Phantom Thoughts
by NenyaVilyaNenya
Summary: McKay is having mental problems.The others attempt to help, but more is going on then what they believe.Things take a turn for the worse and someone gets caught up in it. Twists, turns, and suspense.
1. Fade to Black

**Summary: McKay is having mental problems. The others attempt to help, but more is going on then what they believe. Things take a turn for the worse and someone gets caught up in it. Twists, turns, and suspense.**

**Rating: Teen**

**Placement: Season one, after _Sanctuary_ and before _Before I Sleep_**

**Disclaimer: SGA is not mine of course, but the other characters and situations I write about here are.**

_Thanks Farah for the beta!

* * *

_

**Phantom Thoughts**

**By NenyaVilyaNenya  
aka Vilya and of course, Queen Cliffie (I will try to live up to it in this one too!)**

**Chapter 1- **_Fade to Black_

"McKay, what the hell are you doing?" Major Sheppard had to refrain from yelling as he was extremely annoyed at the sight of Rodney in the lab, typing something or another at his laptop when they were supposed to have left on a mission fifteen minutes earlier.

Rodney looked up and saw John in mission gear, P90 included. "I'm working, what are you doing, walking around dressed like that?"

"I'm trying to get a member of my team ready for our mission to M3R- 436!"

"We don't leave for four more hours, Major." He snipped as he started to type again. What did John do, forget to look at his watch?

"No, we were supposed to have left fifteen minutes ago! Now stop that and get moving."

Rodney looked at his watch, "It's only nine… oh my god it's one fifteen…"

"Yeah that's what I've been trying to tell you. Let's go, I don't have all day." McKay often lost track of time, but this was ridiculous.

He stood up and walked past John towards the door, "Why didn't you page me!" Now he had to hurry up and grab all his gear, the situation was in the least a pain.

John caught up with him in the hall, "I've been paging you for the last ten minutes. I finally got fed up and came to look for you myself."

"I didn't hear anything."

John activated his radio, "McKay." And it came out of Rodney's radio, loud and clear. With a smirk of being right, John said, "It works."

"Apparently. Must have been too engrossed in my work."

"Right." John looked at Rodney, he seemed normal. There was the same chin, same eyes, same face, no visible wounds of any kind, and he was as coherent as he always was. He decided he would have Dr. Beckett check Rodney out when they got back, they were late already.

Xxx xxx

Teyla and Rodney rushed through the Gate, immediately followed by Ford and Sheppard, who were firing behind them. They all looked like they just escaped from a three-alarm fire, as all their faces were blackened with soot of some sort.

Major Sheppard yelled, "Raise the shield!"

Just as a flare of fire came through, Peter raised the shield, cutting off the flare. The team finally got a chance to breathe and stood there panting and dazed, looking at each other in wonder.

"I thought those things… were a myth." John said as he lowered his P90 and turned from the Gate.

Ford wiped his brow, "Not anymore sir."

Upon hearing their unscheduled return, Elizabeth had left her office and went out to the Control Room. Seeing their state, she ran down the stairs, "What happened?"

Teyla replied, "I believe they called it a dragon."

"Dragon!"

"Yeah, big, fire-breathing, flying dragon." Rodney attempted to demonstrate the size of it with his arms, "It was huge."

Elizabeth looked at the team who were still trying to catch their breath. "Is that even scientifically possible? Fire breathing?"

"Well obviously! You see the planet has an extremely high platinum content that could be used to ignite a gas in their systems, of course the dragon would have to have the gas, but that shouldn't be a problem given that certain types of bacteria do produce hydrogen, so if they have those in their system, and then they most likely have a sort of reaction chamber in their throats-"

John interrupted Rodney's explanation, "Well, everyone is fine, so it's a done day." He started walking away.

Rodney snapped, "Hold on, you're not getting off that easy. You woke the damn thing up!"

John stopped, turned around, and drawled, "On accident."

Ford agreed with Rodney, "You did step on his tail… sir."

John crossed his arms in defense. "He was camouflaged into the side of cliff face, how was I supposed to know it was a tail?"

"It was a she."

The three male members of the team turned to Teyla and let out "What?" simultaneously.

Rodney added, "How could you tell? When _she_ was flying over, breathing fire down, trying to incinerate us?"

Teyla explained, "She was lying at the front of a cave, guarding her nest."

"So we pissed off a mother dragon." Rodney corrected himself, "Wait, the Major pissed off a mother dragon."

Ford started walking off himself, "At least the father wasn't around."

Elizabeth couldn't believe it, a dragon… well they were in another galaxy. Maybe then the Ancients who went back to Earth brought with them these stories… then who knows what other mythical creatures were just around the corner. "Go up to the infirmary, all of you and have Carson check you out."

xxx

Dr. Beckett was sitting at his desk reviewing the stack if files he kept putting off. It had luckily been slow in the infirmary for the past couple days, and then Nurse Carolyn Tomich walked in, her brunette hair tied up in a bun.

"Dr. Beckett?"

"Yes, Carolyn?"

"Major Sheppard and his team are back from their mission, they're here.'

"Alright I'm coming." He walked into where the team had sat themselves down and he saw how they looked. Even their clothes had a crispy look to them. "What have you gotten yourselves into now?"

"We ran into a dragon." Ford said, a little too excitedly.

"A dragon! Next thing I know you'll be telling me you found Nessie."

"Nessie?" Teyla asked in slight confusion.

Carson explained, "Loch Ness Monster, also an Earth myth."

"It could be a water dragon." John mentioned as Carson was prodding him.

Carson raised his eyebrow, "Water?"

"Why not? We just ran into a flying one!"

Carson moved on to Ford who said, "I always thought it was a dinosaur, sir."

Rodney was sitting with his arms crossed, "Next thing we know Major Sheppard will wake up a Cyclops."

"He does seem to have an aptitude for waking creatures up." Teyla agreed as Carson was checking her over.

"What if we ran into Elves?" Ford added.

Now it was Rodney's turn to be checked over, "Elves? Like the fat old man's helper elves?"

Ford corrected him, "No, as in Middle Earth Elves that are immortal and are as tall as men."

John chimed in, "Oh I liked those movies."

Rodney snarked, "Never read the books huh Major?"

"No… have you McKay?"

"I glossed through them."

After Carson had finished checking them all out with usual procedures, with a special emphasis on checking for burns, he announced, "You're all free to go." They had faced down a dragon and the only thing they had to show for it was scorched clothing.

"Finally." Rodney hopped off the bed and left hurriedly, followed by Teyla and Aiden, but John stayed behind.

After the rest of his team was out of earshot, John asked what was on his mind, "Doc, I'm worried about McKay, are you sure you didn't find anything wrong with him?"

"Not a thing, why?" He was writing on their charts.

"He was late for the mission today, which by itself wouldn't be unusual, but when I found him he thought it was four hours earlier than it was and he didn't hear the pages."

Carson thought for a moment, "I can't keep him here without a reason. Keep an eye on him and report back to me. I'm sure everything is fine."

"Alright. Thanks."

"No problem." John left and Carson sighed, hoping there was nothing serious going on.

xxx

Rodney headed straight to his lab after bolting out of the infirmary. He needed to think. He could have sworn it was nine o'clock when it was past one. He opened his laptop and by the looks of how little work he did that morning, it couldn't have been one o'clock. He remembered looking at his watch when it was 8:50, and then ten minutes later Major Sheppard walked in. That couldn't have been possible, unless he blacked out…people don't blackout without a reason, something had to happen.

He picked his head up and saw Dr. Radek Zelenka on the other side of the lab, "You were here this morning right?"

"Yes."

"Did you see me leave at all?"

"Around nine."

"Did you see which way I turned?"

"Right."

Rodney left the lab, leaving Radek looking confused, hoping to follow his steps to wherever he had been that morning. He had to have gone somewhere, but why couldn't he remember?

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Peter Grodin passing him in the hallway until the other man spoke up, "Hi Rodney, going back to that new lab you and Zelenka had to bust open yesterday? What are we calling it now, 13B?"

He stopped and turned around, "You saw me go in there?"

Peter narrowed his eyes, "Yeah, this morning, I was taking a walk. Is everything alright?"

As he was walking away he commented, "It's peachy."

Rodney continued to walk until he came to the lab two levels down. It was more like a private office than a lab really. It was small, ten feet by ten feet and kept in the style of the city. A desk was by the far wall, with a built in computer and an attached panel on the top, equipment on the counters, and cabinets. He and Radek had determined it had its own power supply, similar to the Puddle Jumpers. This happened after Rodney inadvertently placed his hand on the panel, received a shock, and they searched for the reason.

Whoever this Ancient was, he had to either be important enough to have his own independent power source, or just that intelligent to sneak one in. He looked around and couldn't find anything different from the day before. This Ancient had also encrypted his computer, requiring a code to access it, which they didn't know and haven't had the time to work on it. There was also a cabinet with a keypad, which they also hadn't been able to open, yet.

He decided not to worry about it. It just happened the once anyway, and he headed back up to do some work.

Xxx xxx

McKay got up out of bed and opened the drawer to get some clothes. He dressed hurriedly and left his quarters. Walking silently through the dark halls of the Atlantis, he kept an eye out for anyone. What he was doing had to be done secretly, or he would have trouble. It was late at night, so it wasn't a problem though.

He snuck in the infirmary's supply room, taking a handful of hypodermic needles. He then proceeded to the new lab/office they had designated 13B and headed straight to the locked cabinet. He entered a code on the keypad, opening it. It was cold inside and he pulled out two beakers. The 20mL beaker contained a blood red mixture; the 50mL beaker was a third full and contained a deep blue mixture.

Setting them down on the counter, he then pulled out a small still with twisted glass tubing and set it up. He placed the 50mL beaker at the bottom, positioning it so the end of the tube was directly over the beaker. He poured the red mixture into the top of the set up. The red liquid slowly dripped into the blue over the period of half an hour and turned purple. He then put everything back in the refrigerated cabinet and waited for it to set.

After two hours he took out the beaker, the mixture had turned clear, and took the hypodermic needle out of his pocket. He pulled a third of the mixture into the hypodermic and smiled.

* * *

**TBC...**


	2. Big Bang Theory

**Chapter 2-** _Big Bang Theory_

Major Sheppard was leading the team over the terrain of M8X-468 at 1100 hours in the overwhelming heat. Damn, he couldn't remember what this type of terrain was called, it wasn't a desert where you sunk up to heels in sand like in Afghanistan, but it was dry and sandy.

The grass was spotty and barely clinging to the surface. More like the dry African savannah than anything… oh crap did that mean lions? Up ahead there were some ruins, and that was exactly where they were going, of course.

He could hear Ford and Teyla chatting behind him about something to do with Athosian culture, when he glanced behind him he could tell they were still surveying the planet, so it wasn't a problem.

One voice he didn't hear was McKay's. It was surprising to John that McKay wasn't complaining about the heat, the hike, or anything at all. McKay was directly behind him, looking at the portable detector and looking up to see how far they had progressed every few seconds, eager to get there.

He seemed to have changed since breakfast. That morning Rodney looked absolutely beat, but when John mentioned it, he blew it off and said that he did actually go to sleep last night, and he himself was wondering why he was so tired. John knew something wasn't right, but he just couldn't place it, and it was beginning to scare him.

Now McKay was focused, and saying the bare minimum in answering any question that was thrown his way.

They finally approached the ruins at the top of a low hill. The roof had long since disappeared and so had most of the walls separating what once were rooms. There were a few carved columns strewn on the floor, and one still standing. The floor had large, matte cerulean tiles, about two feet square, in a brick like design. It must have beautiful when it was new.

Ford and Teyla stayed outside to keep watch as McKay and Sheppard continued in.

McKay immediately ran up to the standing column and ran his fingers gingerly over the writing, reading it carefully. He then stepped back and looked around the whole place with his eyes, and bent down and read the writings on the fallen columns.

"So, what do you think this place is?" John asked as he tapped the one standing column with his P90. When no answer came he asked, "McKay?" and yelled "Hey McKay!"

McKay turned his head, "Oh it is…was a house."

John could have sworn he saw a tear in McKay's eye. "Anything of value?"

"Actually…possibly…" He walked into the adjoining room, pulling a long knife from a before-unseen holster, startling John a little who didn't know Rodney carried a knife like that around.

He followed Rodney and saw him counting the number of tiles on the floor until he came to the one in the dead center of the room and then crouched down and began to pry the tile up with his knife.

"Need help?" John asked.

"Yes, here, take a hold of this part."

John also crouched down and put his hands under where McKay had lifted the large and extremely heavy tile up and they both moved it off to the side. Beneath it was an open space that went under the immediately surrounding tiles.

As he shined his flashlight down into the hole, he asked McKay, "How did you know this was here?"

He was peering down the hole, "It was written on the columns. There's a ladder, so let's go exploring."

There indeed was a ladder attached to one of the adjacent tiles.

John keyed his radio, "Ford, we found something. Keep watch."

"_Yes sir." _

Rodney was already making his way down into the underground chamber, and once he was down the ladder called up to John, "It's safe, Major. Feel free to come down anytime now."

He said that last comment so much like the usual McKay, Major Sheppard forgot for a moment about the earlier strange behavior, even him voluntarily going first into an unexplored underground cavern.

John climbed down the ladder, his boots causing the metal rungs to sound with each step. He landed on the floor, which also was tiled with the blue stone. He looked around shining his flashlight in the small chamber; it couldn't have been any larger than seven feet by seven feet.

Rodney was holding his own flashlight in his mouth, bent over what could be called a large suitcase, one of four. He undid the latch and opened it. "Major, you're never going to believe this."

"What is it McKay?" He walked over and stood next to him.

"Crystals. There should be more in the other three cases. I can't believe that after all these years, they are still intact… it's…it's incredible…"

"What are they doing _here?_ I thought this was a house."

"The house belonged to one of the architects of Atlantis. At least now we have some replacement parts." Rodney closed the case and stood up straight.

"Let me guess, that was written on the columns too?"

"Yes, these are the only items of value here, so I suggest we get these back to Atlantis before something goes terribly wrong on this planet, like what usually happens on supposedly routine missions and Carson keeps us in the infirmary for a week while I could be doing other important things..."

He started to sound like the usual McKay… John once again keyed his radio, "Teyla, come give us a hand, we have luggage. We're in the floor of one of the rooms."

He could hear a little twinge in her voice, most likely at the 'in the floor' comment, _"I'm coming Major."_

Once she arrived, they formed a line, John handing Rodney the cases from the chamber, and Rodney on the ladder handing them up to Teyla. It took only a couple of minutes before the three were on their way out of the ruins, John carrying a case, Teyla carrying one, and miraculously McKay carrying two and not saying a word.

Lt. Ford turned around, "With all due respect sir, are we heading out now? It is incredibly hot." He wiped his brow, his clothes soaked in sweat, the same as the others. It had to be around 105 degrees F in the shade, and they still had the walk back to the Gate.

"Yes Lieutenant, McKay found some new toys to play with." John expected a sharp retort from McKay about them not being toys, but none came. _So back to being odd…_

The walk back was the same as the first, except this time the team was loaded down with the cases. Ford has insisted on taking the one from Major Sheppard, as John was walking on point.

Again McKay seemed lost is his own world, not engaging in snarky banter with John.

Xxx xxx

Peter Grodin looked at McKay like, well, he was nuts walking up to the Control Balcony, "Rodney, what are you still doing in your mission gear?"

_Still?_ He looked at his watch, it was six o'clock in the evening, past the ending of the mission, and the debriefing for that matter. "Oh, I uh, just haven't had the chance to change." In truth, he had just changed into his mission gear thinking it was 1100 hours, and had the frightening realization that he must have blacked out again. "How's everything going here?"

"It's fine."

"Ok, keep up the good work." Rodney left the Control Balcony, fleeing to his quarters to change. He avoided everyone on the way, his mind racing with the fact that he had blacked out _on a mission_. That made the score blackouts: two (accounted for), memories of what occurred: none. It scared the crap out of him. The known he could handle – the Wraith, the imminent power failure, those he knew something about. But not knowing exactly what he did for eleven hours - that was something he couldn't afford to be doing. He threw his gear at the bottom of his closet and headed out of his quarters.

--

Peter Grodin had decided it would be a good idea to go see Carson, something was definitely up with the Chief Scientist. He walked up to the infirmary in a quick pace, and found Carson in his office standing and talking with Major Sheppard.

"Carson, could I talk to you for a moment?"

"Aye, what about?"

He eyed John, "It would be best in private."

"If it's about McKay, I've beat you to it."

"You have?"

Carson sounded concerned, "We're worried about him too, what have you noticed?"

"He came to the Control Balcony in full out mission gear, like he expected to be leaving in five minutes. When I questioned him about it he blew it off and actually said I was doing good work. How was he on the mission?"

"I was just telling Carson that he was well, quiet, hardly said a word the whole time. It was eerie, like he wasn't there. Same in the debriefing."

Carson threw his arms up in the air, "That's it. I'm giving him a full-check out, blood work, scans, everything. I'll find what the bloody hell is wrong with him."

As if on cue, Rodney came storming in, "There is something seriously wrong with me Carson, and I demand to know what it is!" And then he saw Peter and John standing there. "What's going on?"

"We all seem to agree something is wrong with you." John commented.

Rodney crossed his arms, "That's insulting."

The other three just rolled their eyes at him.

"Rodney, come on and I'll check you over." Carson moved out of his office and into the infirmary, walking next to Rodney and followed by Major Sheppard and Peter.

"Sit." Carson instructed Rodney who plopped himself down on one of the infirmary beds. "What do you believe is wrong with you?"

"I don't know; that's why I came here." He tapped his feet in the air; Carson gave him a 'I need to know more than that' glare. "Okay, I've been blacking out, it's happened twice."

"Are you sure they were blackouts?"

Rodney looked up at him, scared, "Positive. During the first one, Peter saw me go into the 13B lab before the mission to M3R-436, but I don't remember those four hours at all.

"The Dragon planet?"

"Yes the dragon planet, and today... today I blacked out on the mission to M8X-468 and the debriefing, so that's another seven hours."

John exclaimed, "You don't remember the mission at all!"

McKay shook his head, "No."

"Not even the spare crystals for the Control Room?" Peter asked.

"What spare crystals? We have spare crystals? That's great now we don't have to be so in edge…"

Peter cut in, "The ones _you_ found on the planet."

Carson had been writing everything down on a chart, "I'm going to have Carolyn take some blood and I'll run a few other tests, see if I can find anything." He shot a glance at Peter and Major Sheppard, and they got the hint to leave and he would talk to them afterward.

Xxx xxx

Major Sheppard was paged to Carson's office three hours later, which he immediately ran up to, bypassing the infirmary. Carson was sitting at his desk, rubbing his head looking at lab results.

"Peter couldn't make it, what did you find?"

Carson looked up, "I'm not sure. I did every test I could think of, at Rodney's insistence," He motioned to the pile of folders on his desk, "including PET, EEG… the only thing that came back abnormal was his blood test. There's a strange chemical in his system. I have him resting in the infirmary for the night, but I didn't inform him of the chemical."

John sat down, "Where could he have got it from? It's not life threatening, is it?"

"I simply don't know what it is right now. When Carolyn took the blood sample, she found two other needle marks that I believe he didn't receive in my infirmary."

"What are you saying? He's doing this to himself?"

Carson leaned forward, "It seems that way."

John was exacerbated, "Where would he get drugs, we're not exactly down the road from the corner."

"He's a smart man, he could make something himself."

John stood up, "I can't believe we're actually discussing this! I would have noticed if there was something that serious going on with him. We're all stressed around here."

Carson stood up calmly, "I agree Major. Of course I'll inform Elizabeth, but I plan on keeping this quiet until I've determined what this chemical is and if it is even related to his blackouts. In the meantime, I want you to see if you can find out anything I could use. A source, perhaps."

"Alright, but it doesn't make sense, why would he come here demanding to be seen if he knew this was self-induced?"

"The blackouts could be a side-effect he wasn't planning on, or he could be completely innocent of everything and got this in his system from one of a number of places."

John rubbed his forehead with his fingertips, "I'll go do some snooping." He waved goodbye to Carson and made his way to Rodney's quarters. The halls were clearing out by this time and he passed few people.

He thought the door open and quickly closed it behind him. Rodney's room was as clean as it could be. There were no clothes strewn on the floor, the books were in perfect order on the shelf, notebooks and files stacked neatly on the desk next to his laptop, and wrappers from MREs and power bars safely contained in the waste can.

He was still standing by the door, taking it all in. It was an understatement to say John felt very odd being in Rodney's room, alone and not looking for him. He sighed and started the search.

After opening every drawer, searching the closet, bathroom, and under the bed, John gave up. There was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that would help Carson figure out what was going on.

Major Sheppard left and started down the hall, pondering the situation. There was something definitely wrong with Rodney, his behavior and blackouts alone proved that, and now this chemical? There wasn't even a possibility to John that Rodney had turned to injecting himself with some home-made substance to ease the stress.

He was always stressed, and there hadn't been a particularly traumatic event recently. The last major occurrence was on Chaya's planet. If this was really a drug problem, it should have started before; after Gall, Abrams, and that super Wraith; Wagner, Johnson, Peterson, Dumais, Hays … not now, not weeks later.

He turned the corner into the infirmary hallway and saw Rodney sneaking out, still in his usual clothes and not scrubs, going the other way. "McKay! Where are you going?"

But Rodney kept walking and John ran after him, "McKay, Beckett didn't release you did he? ... … McKay!"

Now John had caught up, put his hand on his shoulder, and spun him around, "Rodney, you should-"

His words were cut short as he saw a flash of a fist and the world going black.

* * *

**TBC…**


	3. From Beneath the Surface

**Chapter 3**_- From Beneath the Surface_

He was standing over the slumped-on-the-ground Major, shaking his hand in the air; he had forgotten how much punching someone hurt. He immediately knew it was a mistake, but it was a necessary one. He jogged down the hall towards the transporter, keeping his eyes out for anyone, but no one was around. The transporter doors opened and he stepped in, immediately closing the doors behind him and when they opened again, he was on the level of lab 13B.

---

Carson was sitting in his office when he heard the muffled shouts of Major Sheppard in the hallway, and then silence. He ran out through the infirmary, instantaneously noticing the absence of Dr. McKay, and once in the hallway he saw John lying on the ground.

"Oh bloody hell!"

As he ran up to John, he keyed his radio, "Sgt. Bates, it's Dr. Beckett, I need a security team to search for Dr. McKay." He bent over John and checked his pulse.

"_Yes sir, right away, what's the situation?"_

"McKay escaped the infirmary and incapacitated Major Sheppard. I need him back up here." Carson got John to his feet and slung his arm around him.

"_We'll get him there immediately."_

"Thank you son."

John was coming to slightly, "Rod…ney…"

"I know, let's get you on a bed shall we lad?"

John mumbled, "Have to go look…"

"I have Bates on it." He supported John as he walked him back into the infirmary.

-

McKay jogged down the hall and stopped outside lab 13B, hoping he would get done what he had to do before Carson discovered he was missing. He thought the door open, and stepped into the Ancient room, and closed the door. Without delay, he unlocked the refrigerated cabinet and took out the beaker and syringe.

He pulled the remaining third of the clear mixture into the new syringe, rolled up his left sleeve, and injected himself. He closed his eyes and felt the newly introduced liquid move throughout his body. After replacing the equipment and locking the cabinet, he opened the door and looked out. There was no one. He had to get out of that section of the city, and fast.

--

Carson sat Major Sheppard on one of the infirmary beds, and checked him over, feeling his face. Nothing was seriously wrong or broken, but he'd have one hell of a black eye in a few hours.

John shook his head to try and make himself more alert, and started to stand up. "I'm fine Doc, I just needed to rest a minute."

Carson held him back, "What you need is to lie down and get your bearings again."

He obeyed and laid down on the bed, "Just for a minute though."

--

McKay had quickly decided the best course of action was to go to his quarters, his laptop was there and that was as good a reason as any to say why he left the infirmary and went there. They all thought he was a workaholic. But punching John… dang was that one hell of a mistake. He exited the transporter at the end of the hall and was halfway to his quarters when he heard a voice.

"Dr. McKay, turn around and come with me."

He kept walking, "Hi Bates, just let me retrieve my laptop."

"I can't let you do that."

Rodney turned around, "Very well."

Xxx

McKay sighed as he sat down on the bed; he knew he would have a load of explaining to do in the morning. Bates had wanted to throw him in the brig, but Carson had convinced him this was a medical situation and compromised. He was in a small room at the back of the infirmary, separate from everyone, and a room Bates could have guarded. The far wall was all windows, and had long horizontal slats for blinds. It would get very bright in there when the sun was up and the slats were open. That was something.

Xxx xxx

It was morning when Carson walked up to the door to find Sgt. Bates standing guard, P90 in hand. "Sergeant."

"Doctor."

Carson thought the door open and stepped in, aware that Bates had turned to follow him in. "You can wait outside Sgt., I'll be fine."

"I don't believe that with his past behavior that would be advisable."

"I'll leave the door open." He couldn't blame Bates for being careful, Rodney did knock out his CO.

"Yes, sir." Bates turned and faced out into the infirmary.

He saw Rodney sitting on the bed, his face buried in his hands. The now rising sun shined in from the open window. Once he saw Carson was there he stood up, frantic. "What the hell is going on? Last thing I know I was laying in the infirmary and I wake up in _here_! And that bloodhound out there won't tell me anything!"

"You'd better sit back down Rodney." Carson said calmly.

"No I will not until you tell me why I'm locked in a room and have Bates guarding me!"

Carson sighed, "Last night you left the infirmary, punched out Major Sheppard, and Bates found you outside your quarters."

"What! You have got to be kidding me!" He sat back down on the bed, "I blacked out again. Do you have any idea why? Is the Major okay?"

"He's fine; you gave him a black eye though. As for why… you have a chemical in your system."

"How did I get a chemical in me?"

"Well, you now have three needle marks I don't believe you received from one of my staff." He didn't want to believe Rodney had resorted to drugs, but it certainly seemed that way.

Rodney rolled up his sleeve and saw what he was talking about. He looked up at Carson, "You don't think I'm doing this to myself do you?"

"What else am I supposed to believe lad? Unless you give me another explanation."

He thought a moment, "Maybe this is happening during the blackouts, I have had three blackouts and three injections, right?"

"Aye."

Rodney was agitated, "Well then someone gave me these during the blackouts."

"I don't know about that, it doesn't add up. You were alert during your blackouts, but then again, you were not acting like yourself. I've asked Dr. Heightmeyer to see you, she's outside in the infirmary now."

"Oh god, you think I'm nuts, well I'm not, okay? I'm just a little… off, that's all."

"Let's just see what she says. I'll get her." Carson left.

--

Kate Heightmeyer, the resident psychologist with curly blonde hair, walked in holding a clipboard and a tape recorder, followed by Bates who was carrying two chairs. "Hi Rodney." She turned to Bates, "Just set them down here, thank you."

"No problem Ma'am. I'll be right outside, shout if you need me." He shot a glance at Rodney, set the chairs down, facing each other, and went back to his self-appointed post.

He had stood up again when she walked in, "Kate, please tell me you know what's wrong with me."

"That's what I'm here to find out, please have a seat." She gave him a slight smile, sat down in the chair that was facing the window, turned the recorder on, and set it on the floor.

Rodney sat down, facing the door, "Good because I have a lot of work to do and I can't afford to be locked up in here wasting precious time because I can't remember a few hours of my life. Zelenka and Peter should be able to keep the lab running smoothly for awhile, but Kavanagh will probably try to assert some sort of power and screw something up permanently, causing me more stress than I already have."

Kate had let him rant, and now he stopped so she spoke, "You have been under a lot of stress haven't you, running the scientific side of this expedition?"

He leaned forward and folded his hands in front of him, "It's an incredible amount, but I think I've done alright, mostly anyway. I mean no one's perfect, not even geniuses."

"No one expects you to be perfect."

"Oh come on, that's not true. We've had this discussion before Kate."

Indeed they had, she had two previous sessions with him, one after Gall and Abrams, and the other after the nanovirus, so the barriers between psychologist and patient had already been broken down.

"Yes, and I can't seem to change your mind on that aspect. Let's move on to when the blackouts first began."

"The first one was two days ago, I was in the lab. Major Sheppard stormed in and informed me that I was late for the mission, but I thought it was only nine in the morning. Later Peter informed me he saw me going into lab 13B, but I don't remember. The next one was during the mission yesterday, for most of the day, and then the third was last night when I supposedly punched Major Sheppard." He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his head.

"Are you sure that's all of them?"

"Absolutely. Unless I was sleepwalking or something." Kate was jotting something down while Rodney had a sudden realization, "There _was_ another one… the night after the first one. I went to sleep early and woke up completely worn out… I must have got up and done something, there's no other reason for me being so beat yesterday morning."

"Hmm. Carson has informed you of the marks he found on you?"

"Yes. I can't believe them," He showed her, "I have no memory of them whatsoever, there is no way in hell I would do this to myself, I didn't even want Carson to give me the gene therapy because he hadn't tested it on humans yet. I'm very careful about what I let in my body."

"How does this make you feel?"

"I'm scared out of my mind! Something is going on and I can't do anything about it."

"It's out of your control."

"Yes."

She wrote something else down and looked up to see Rodney shake his head, stand up rapidly, walk over to the window without saying a word, and fold his hands behind his back.

"Rodney? Are you alright?" She said concerned.

"Do not call me that." He kept looking out the window.

"Ok, Dr. McKay." Things had suddenly got very odd…

"Do not call me that!"

"Doctor… "

"Garin." He looked at her, "I am under guard."

"Yes. You became violent last night." _Garin?_ She didn't show how her mind started putting pieces together; the sudden change of demeanor, the black outs, identifying himself by a different name…

"I know. It was a mistake. You are a doctor of the mind." He stated.

She nodded as her mind kept clicking, "That is correct."

"Interesting, very interesting. You believe you can heal us?" He took a step toward the still-seated Kate.

She followed his lead, "Yes I do. You should know it won't be easy Garin."

"I did not think so."

"Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

"All you need to know is I did what he would never do."

"Rodney and the injections?" She was paying close attention to his behavior.

"Yes. It pained us and he wouldn't stop it."

"What pained you?"

"The deaths… the stress… everything."

"I could have helped you, you didn't have to resort to… self-medication."

"I realize that now." He sat down opposite her.

"Are you willing to cooperate with Rodney and me?"

"Yes."

She smiled her doctor's smile, "Good, can I speak to Rodney so I can inform him of the situation?"

"Yes."

Once again, his head shook.

"Rodney?"

"What?" He snipped.

"What is the last thing I said?"

"Other than my name, 'It's out of your control,' why?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I was just talking with you for a few minutes as you addressed yourself as 'Garin.' He said he was the one who injected you."

Rodney practically jumped off his chair, "You're saying I'm crazy, that I'm schizophrenic?"

"No, schizophrenia has nothing to do with split personalities. It's a split from _reality_ that shows itself in disorganized and delusional thinking. It's a whole cluster of disorders unto itself. I believe you have a dissociative disorder, but I'll need more time to correctly diagnose it."

He calmed down, "You can cure this right?"

She nodded, "It's possible, in time."

"Don't give me 'possible,' I want a definite!"

She picked up the recorder and got ready to leave, "I'm afraid there are no guarantees in psychology. I will do my best." She stood up.

"You'd better."

"I'll be back, but I want you to lie down and rest some."

Rodney snipped, "Like that will be possible."

Xxx

Kate found Carson in his office, mumbling in Gaelic over a stack of paperwork. He stopped and stood when she walked in.

"Well? What did ye find?"

"I'm very hesitant to say what I'm leaning towards."

"Out with it anyway."

"DID or MPD."

"Oh that's just bloody fantastic!" He snipped, a tad angry.

"There was only one alternate personality that I talked to. This other Rodney calls himself Garin and is rather… short with his answers. He doesn't seem to like the sound of his voice like our Rodney. When Garin surfaces, Rodney experiences amnesia, but not the other way around. It's typical of DID though. Garin has admitted to injecting Rodney with a sort of drug to ease the mental pain and has agreed to work with Rodney and me."

"We'd better let the others know."

Xxx

"_Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"_

"_All you need to know is I did what he would never do."_

"_Rodney and the injections?"_

"_Yes. It pained us and he wouldn't stop it."_

"_What pained you?"_

"_The deaths… the stress… everything."_

"_I could have helped you, you didn't have to resort to… self-medication."_

"_I realize that now."_

"_Are you willing to cooperate with Rodney and me?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Good, can I speak to Rodney now so I can inform him of the situation?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Rodney?"_

"_What?"_

"_What is the last thing I said?"_

"_Other than my name, 'It's out of your control,' why?"_

Kate shut off the tape recorder. She was sitting in the debriefing room with Carson, Elizabeth, and the black-eyed Major Sheppard, who given another punch would look like a panda. The doors were closed for privacy.

John broke the silence, "So what does DID stand for?"

Kate replied, "Dissociative Identity Disorder. It is also known as Multiple Personality Disorder, or MPD It's a condition characterized by the use of dissociation as a primary defense mechanism."

Carson added, "DID is highly controversial, some do not believe it is a real disorder."

"In any case, I am still very reluctant to make any sort of diagnosis here. He is showing the main characterizations, loss of time and this 'Garin,' but that's it. Also the fact that it came on so suddenly, I've seen no previous symptoms." She shook her head. "I need to have more sessions with him."

Elizabeth folded her arms, "Understood. What caused this?"

Kate rested her elbow on the table and lightly placed her hand on her neck, "Severe stress, trauma… events here could have easily triggered something in his subconscious from childhood."

"Is there a treatment you can give him, once you know what this is?" Elizabeth was getting increasingly worried about this.

"If it is DID, the only thing I can do is integration, attempt to get the personalities to combine into one through therapy and working through any trauma."

"And he'll go back to the old McKay?" John asked.

"More or less."

"So you could make sure he retains Garin's suppressed tongue?"

Elizabeth yelled, "Major!"

"I'm just as worried as all of you, I'm only saying it wouldn't be too bad if McKay wasn't so… vocal all the time."

Elizabeth opened her mouth to say something to John, but decided against it and started to stand, "Kate, please do what you can as soon as you can. We need Rodney back."

Kate nodded, "Of course."

* * *

**TBC…**


	4. Out of the FryingPan into the Fire

**Chapter 4- **_Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire_

Major Sheppard strolled through the infirmary dead set on seeing McKay and carrying a tray of food, and that meant seeing Garin too he supposed. The place was still empty, just the way Carson liked it, except for the backroom, where John approached now.

"Sgt. Bates."

"Major Sheppard sir."

John stopped and turned to him, "How long have you been here?"

"Since 0600, Sgt. Stackhouse was here during the night."

"Well it's not necessary any longer, you're dismissed."

"Sir-"

John forcefully reordered his command, "Dismissed."

"Yes sir." Bates left reluctantly but quickly and quietly as John thought the door open and stepped in. The two chairs were still there and McKay was standing by the window so his back was turned to the door.

"Rodney?" John called almost whispering.

"No."

"Garin?"

"Yes."

John never had to deal with a friend with this particular problem before and he felt odd. After a moment of awkward silence John spoke, "Well, can I speak to Rodney?"

Garin turned around as he said, "You need not ask." His head shook like before with Kate.

"Rodney?"

"Who else who I be Major? Wait, that was a stupid question. Food!" He took it gratefully from him, "You got one hell of a shiner don't you? I didn't know this body could hit that hard."

"It's courtesy of Garin. So how you doing?" He sat down in Kate's chair, resting his right arm on its back.

Rodney snarked with a mouthful of a relative to the potato, "For a man who's just been told he's nuts I'm terrific."

"You're not nuts…you have a type of…disorder." John could see a calm fear behind Rodney's eyes, not overwhelming and hysterical like he was in dangerous situations.

Rodney set the tray down on the small bedside table and gripped the back of the other chair so tightly his knuckles turned white, "Which is a nice way of saying I've lost my marbles somewhere in this galaxy, or maybe I left them back on Earth."

"Look, you'll be fine, this is fixable."

"Yeah, so I've been told." Rodney sat down. "This really sucks. I have all these projects running and I'm stuck in here for who knows how long."

"Dr. Heightmeyer said she'll release you to your quarters in a little while."

"Trading one prison for another. Perfect. Who all knows about this anyway?"

"Other than me, Beckett, and Heightmeyer, just Dr. Weir and Zelenka and Grodin since she has them running the science department in your absence. Bates and his team don't really know anything but what they've seen. You're geeks and everyone else were told you're under Beckett's orders to rest."

"So only the senior staff, Zelenka, and Grodin know I'm insane, at least no one else knows."

"You're not insane, well, not technically."

"Thanks Major, that really helps." He snipped and rubbed his face.

"I do what I can." He faked a grin, this really did suck.

"Gentlemen."

Both men looked up and saw Dr. Weir just on the inside of the door.

"Elizabeth. Well, isn't this a party now. Did you happen to bring me anything, preferably my nice little laptop?" Rodney made the motion of 'air-typing.'

"No, I didn't. Besides you're not supposed to work today, or tomorrow, or until Kate and Carson agree you can." She hoped it would be soon though, she hated seeing him like this.

"Which won't be until this Garin goes away right?" Suddenly Rodney shouted out of frustration aiming his shouts to his own mind, "Go away Garin!"

John quietly said, "I don't think it works like that."

Rodney shrugged, "It was worth a shot anyway."

---

Dr. Kate Heightmeyer had walked back to her office after the meeting, she needed to do some research on the subject before she went further in diagnoses or treatment. Built-in shelves were behind her and they continued a small way on the side walls, loaded with books she brought from Earth. The room also had a sitting area where she talked to patients.

She was sitting at her desk with a stack of books sprawled about, the present one she was looking through was the DSM-IV, its full title being the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders edition Four, open to the section on dissociative disorders. No wonder why all professionals referred to it as the DSM, try to say that title three times fast. The book was large, a couple inches thick, and dog-eared from previous use.

Not only is DID the most famous of the dissociative disorders, it is also one of the most controversial. Even the name is an issue, internationally it is still known as MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) but the American Psychiatry Association lists it in the DSM as DID. The skeptics of this condition consider it a fad and that people who are diagnosed with it are simply role playing. Of course Rodney just had to present the major symptoms of this disorder.

She finished using the DSM and opened another book for a different perspective. The sudden onset of Rodney's condition is what really bothered her. She flipped the pages until she found what she was looking for.

"Kate."

She looked up and saw Dr. Beckett in his white lab coat. "I didn't even know you were in here Carson... you haven't been standing there long have you? I know I can space out when I'm working."

He sat down in the chair facing her desk and eyed the mess of books, "Just a few moments. Anything I can do to help?"

She looked at the shelf to the side of him and pointed, "Yes, could you hand me that book? The blue one who's binding reads 'The International Society for the Study of Dissociation.'"

He stood up and moved to the shelf, "That's all? Good, because I'm no psychologist."

"That honor falls to me."

He pulled it out and read off the title, " 'Guidelines for treating Dissociative Identity Disorder, or Multiple Personality Disorder in Adults.' This is why I'm a medical doctor, I like to see what's wrong with my patients." He handed the book to her.

Taking it, "Thanks." After a moment she continued, "There's one aspect that is really odd about this case, the acuteness of it."

Carson sat back down, "It did come out of nowhere."

Kate tapped her pencil, "I had a client, one of those who went just went for therapy periodically to talk, and he suddenly started showing the main characteristics of depersonalization disorder. He described having sporadic moments of feeling as if he was in a dream, I didn't even have time to diagnose him. It lasted not even for a week. When I left for this expedition and referred him to my colleague, he still hadn't had a recurrence."

"If I recall, that's also a dissociative disorder."

"Yes, yes it is. The man also had been through some terrible things in his past, but nothing within a few months. There only have been a couple documented cases like this because they last only a little while, and anyone experiencing symptoms for that short duration would pass it off as a bad week."

"We happened to have a resident psychologist. Do you believe this will also pass?"

She shook her head, "I can't say, but one can hope. Psychology is a relatively new branch of science, so much is uncharted. It wasn't that long ago doctors were putting patients in what were basically machines of torture."

"According to Rodney, we still do." They both managed to laugh a little.

Kate started to gather a few things, "If he thinks his science is the only real science, then we're both voodoo priests."

"Our voodoo has saved everyone here time and time again."

"Yours more than mine. Though I keep busy, there's so much to cope with here."

"I heal their bodies, you heal their minds."

Kate smiled and stood, "That's what I'm off to do now. Would you like to walk with me to see Rodney? Depending on how it goes, I'll release him to his quarters."

Carson stood, "By all means, let's make our way."

---

The commander of Atlantis, the ranking military officer, and chief scientist were still in the backroom of the infirmary. John had given Elizabeth his chair and was now seated on the edge of the bed, and they had moved the chairs and formed a semi-circle. Elizabeth was in one, Rodney the other.

Their conversation had turned to discussing the SGC, then other Earth things. The three had managed to temporarily forget the reason they were in the room, and somehow in her attempt to ease Rodney's mind, Elizabeth found herself defending her favorite outdoor pastime, baseball, from the two men.

Rodney leaned back on his chair, "Oh come one, it's hitting a piece of cowhide with a stick."

"It's more than that Rodney, it's a difficult sport that requires concentration and skill."

John commented, "I would rather just watch football."

Rodney turned his attention to the Major, "That's even worse, running with a ball of pig hide down a field."

John grinned, "And I suppose hockey's better? A bunch of people in ice skates pushing around a flat black piece of rubber with sticks."

"That's not the point."

Elizabeth smiled, "Is there a point to this conversation?"

"No, not really." John grinned and that set them off laughing.

"Let's just agree that all sports are borderline absurd." Elizabeth barely got that sentence out.

"I'll drink to that." John automatically reached out for an invisible glass, "But we don't have anything to drink…" The three continued to laugh, Elizabeth leaning forward and covering her mouth, Major Sheppard scratching his head, and Rodney was sitting cross-legged, bowing his head and resting his hand on his face.

The laughter had calmed down when John and Elizabeth noticed Rodney wasn't laughing anymore. Elizabeth looked up at John, and turned back to Rodney, "Are you alright?" She placed a hand on his back.

"I'm fine." He sniffed and brushed her away.

"McKay," John paused, "Rodney, we're here, you can talk to us."

"And we'll always be here or just a page away."

Rodney looked up, his face slightly red, "What am I supposed to say, huh? We're all in agreement that this thoroughly sucks and that it's a possibly I could be 'normal' again. But there still is that overlying factoid that I have a mental disorder. After everything in this galaxy, a mental problem stops me dead in my tracks; not the Wraith, not a black energy-sucking cloud, not a nanovirus, not Kolya, my _own mind_!"

"There have been brilliant people in the past that have battled the abnormal." Elizabeth said compassionately.

"But they weren't _me_. They weren't in a galaxy far, far away living in a city built by a race thousands of years ago battling a life form that uses humans as food."

Major Sheppard looked at the door, "More visitors."

Carson and Kate stepped in the room, Kate talking, "It is getting a little crowded isn't it?"

Rodney scoffed, "With all six of us."

The other four senior staff of Atlantis quickly did a mental head count, five, and then immediately realized he was counting Garin.

Kate looked at the others, "I would like to be left alone with him, if you all would excuse us."

Elizabeth got out of the chair, "No problem. We'll see you later, Rodney."

"Bye McKay." John followed suit.

Rodney gave a sarcastic wave.

Xxx xxx

Rodney was sitting in his chair at his desk, flipping through one of the physics books he brought along to Pegasus. He would much rather be watching one of his _The Outer Limits_ DVD's, but they just had to remove his laptop from his room because it had his work on it.

It had been one remarkable day, and not in a good way.

After another mind grueling session with Kate Heightmeyer, he was indeed released to his quarters, but he couldn't work or go anywhere without someone with him. There was still a risk of Garin becoming violent and attempting to restart his own drug-making factory. Kate had been unsuccessful in retrieving information on the chemical Garin had made, but he had assured her it wasn't harmful.

"Finally."

Rodney spun around to see where the stern voice had come from, and jumped back at the sight of… Sigmund Freud.

At seeing Rodney's expression and behavior, the man said, "I thought this form would be suitable, considering the psychologist has come to see you and this figure was instrumental in developing psychology on Earth. Or would you rather I take my own form?"

Freud suddenly turned into a middle-aged man, his hair still dark brown, and was about Rodney's height, but Major Sheppard's build. He was dressed in white linen. "Dr. Rodney McKay, let me say I feel as if I know you."

Rodney stood up, noticing that this man was blocking the door, "Who the hell are you?"

"My real name is Dr. Garin Trelio."

Rodney's gestures became a little wild. "Excuse me? What are you doing _here?_! Aren't you supposed to be _inside_ my head?"

"This may seem like your quarters, but it is not." The room suddenly changed and they were standing in front of the Stargate, no one else was around. Rodney turned around and searched the room, unable to express what was going through his head.

Garin continued, "We _are_ in your mind. Our mind, well, it's really mine now. Let me use a quote from that show you watch, modified a little of course, 'Do not attempt to adjust your mind. I now control all that you see and hear.'" He ended with a smirk that chilled Rodney to his bones.

* * *

**TBC…**


	5. Invasion Garin

**Chapter 5-**_ Invasion Garin_

Rodney was standing in front of the Stargate and staring at the figure of Garin Trelio before him. But it wasn't real, it couldn't be real…

"You are only supposed to be a division of my mind, not be able to control it completely!"

Suddenly, a bright orange couch appeared behind Garin, and he sat down leisurely, "I am one of what you call the Ancients." A similar couch appeared behind Rodney.

He stiffened his face, "No, that is impossible."

"Is it really? The blackouts you have been experiencing, that was me taking over, before I had full control."

"I know that already, but this is my body! Get out of it!"

"No. It took 10,000 years for someone to come along and touch that panel, and you did." Garin grinned, one arm resting on the couch's arm.

"The shock I received from the panel… 13B is your office." Rodney sat down on the second orange couch in a state of astonishment.

"Yes."

Rodney stared at Garin, "Why do this?"

"I have my reasons. That will have to suffice for now."

"That will not suffice! How did you do this, you were in the computer as a file?"

"More or less. I developed a condensed matrix program able to store a copied consciousness indefinitely. The panel, now that is real genius of my work, it's what makes copying and transference possible. The last time I used it, I set it to trigger at the slightest touch. It only takes a second for the transference."

Rodney stretched out on the couch, closed his eyes, and muttered to himself, "An Ancient has downloaded himself into my brain, taken over, and I'm the only one who knows…everyone else thinks I have a mental disorder… this sucks more than I thought…"

"It is unfortunate that I had to make it seem you have a dissociative disorder, but I had to cover up the true reason for the behavior of the past two days. It is a mistake I will not make the next time." Garin was still relaxed on his bright orange couch.

Rodney opened his eyes, "Next time?" and sat up, "I will not let you do this to someone else! I will stop you."

"I'm afraid you won't."

Rodney stood and came at Garin, but a cell dropped in around him. He stood wanting to run through the horizontal bars, but he couldn't. At least the shield wasn't on.

"So, you had a Wraith in one of these, named Steve? Interesting. We kept a Wraith that way once, but we didn't name him."

"Let me out of here." Rodney said angrily.

"No. I will be with my wife again, and no one will ever stop me. The other 'Ancients' couldn't, and you and your people won't either. I have come too far, crossed too many lines to simply stop."

"Your wife is also stored in the computer…"

"Yes."

Rodney thought that maybe he could convince Garin to leave, "What you're doing is essentially murder! Taking over people's bodies, taking their lives from them. How are you going to be happy with that bearing over you?"

"It's nothing new to me." Garin stood up, "Well, this was fun but I have to get some rest. It's been a long day."

"You are not going anywhere Garin!"

"Oh but I am. Goodbye until next time." He waved and vanished, as did Rodney's cell.

He was left alone in this version of the Gateroom, empty but for him and the two ridiculously out of place orange couches. He eyed the room, it was a stunning recreation of the real world, if it wasn't for Garin's magic tricks it would seem real to Rodney. At least he knew he wasn't crazy, but this was worse, this was an invasion of his mind, and body. What was Garin doing with his body… walking around acting like him. Ancients were supposed to be good, but all societies have their black sheep.

He wondered if the whole city was recreated by Garin Trelio, or just this particular room. Rodney walked by the door that led to the hallway and took a breath, not knowing what was behind the door. He thought it open and his mouth dropped. There was nothing, nothing but empty white space. He gingerly touched outside with his foot and felt that there was some sort of ground.

Rodney stepped out completely and looked around at the whiteness. It was downright creepy, and he turned back into the Gateroom, at least it was something. His eyes were immediately drawn to the orange couches sitting there, reminding him of the situation.

Xxx xxx

He woke up on the couch, not knowing what time it was, or even if time existed in this world Garin had created out of his mind. It all had to be a delusion… some sort of dream. This couldn't really be happening. He had been sleeping… was he because his body was?

"Good morning. Oh and this is really happening, I'm sure you have questions. It is your right to receive answers."

Rodney sat up and looked at Dr. Garin Trelio, "You! Alright, questions…what have you been doing walking around in my body anyway?"

Garin sat down on the opposing orange couch, "The first time I made the compound."

"Which does what? Because they all thought I was drugging myself, which was completely absurd."

"It suppressed your mind enough to allow me to assert control. I gave you the first dose that night when you thought you were sleeping. Imagine my surprise the next day when I realized your mission was to the planet I built a home on, so naturally that day I went on the mission, retrieved the crystals I hid there, sat through that awful debriefing, and administered the second dose. That night, once I took control in the infirmary, I encountered Sheppard in the hallway, dealt with him, and gave the last dose."

During this explanation, Rodney grew angrier and angrier at this incredible intrusion of his life and body. His fists clenched, he moved to the edge of the couch, and tried to think of a plan to reassert control of his own body.

Garin tilted his head, "You can't kill me. I would stop you before you even got close. And besides, this form is a mere projection."

Suddenly Rodney found himself being jerked into the back of the couch and had what looked like leather straps across his chest, keeping him in place. He glared at Garin, "Why are you doing this? Your time to live ended thousands of years ago! We are here now."

"Because I was robbed of my life, so was my wife. We will have another chance."

"Robbed how?" Rodney snarked, he hated half-assed answers.

"A Wraith stole her life, mine along with it, but I copied her consciousness before she died and planned to... resurrect her in another body."

Rodney scoffed, "The others couldn't have cared for that."

"They called it murder, but they are the ones that turned me into a murderer."

Rodney could sense a deep sadness running through this man's comments, but then again, he was also a mad scientist and stole his body so he wasn't about to feel sorry for him. "What are you talking about, they turned you into a murderer?"

"That's not important here. Next question."

He was still strapped into the couch, "Carson should have been able to detect you with the EEG."

Garin grinned, "That he would have if I didn't hide within your own readings. You forget I am a genius and Beckett had a primitive machine. Well, that's all I have time for. I have an appointment with the beautiful Dr. Kate Heightmeyer." Once again Garin vanished as did Rodney's restraints.

Rodney didn't like how Garin's face changed as he said Kate's name. He banged his head on the back of the couch and ran his fingers through his hair out of frustration. He was trapped in this room and there was nothing he could do about it… except maybe the Gate. It was worth a shot. He got up and jogged up the Ancient staircase to the Ancients' version of a DHD and dialed Earth.

The Gate lit up like usual, the light circling around and stopping at the chevrons. One…two.. three… Rodney kept watching, it seemed too real… six… seven…eight… the Gate activated with a swoosh.

He thought he might as well go down and check it out, even if it was only in his head. Maybe on the other side would be his mind's recreation of the SGC, a change of scenery wouldn't hurt.

Rodney jogged back down the stairs, passed the orange couches, and stopped in front of the event horizon. He waved his hand through it and it jiggled like a real event horizon. He stepped through.

He emerged on the other side of the event horizon, literally. He was just behind the Gate.

Rodney scoffed at himself, "Of course what the hell was I thinking. I can't even go to the rest of the city…" The Gate shut down and he looked through it and up to the Control Balcony to the large visual screen. Something was on it.

Again he passed the couches and ran up the stairs. On the screen was what looked like a video playback. Kate was sitting in a chair in front of him in that room she held her sessions in. It dawned on him, Garin was showing him what he saw. This was happening at this moment.

Kate was saying something, but there was no sound and Rodney couldn't read lips. Her eyes were looking straight out from the screen, right at him, it was creepy, but of course what she saw was only his blue eyes. She stopped talking and Rodney assumed Garin was responding to a question. The image on the screen shifted with every head movement Garin made.

Kate said something else and Rodney could have sworn she said his name. Garin twitched the head a little, to simulate the switch of personalities.

"Oh come on Kate! You have to know it's not me!" Rodney was standing, his left arm folded across his chest, and touching his chin with his right hand.

He continued watching through his own eyes that were controlled by someone else and thought this must be what it's like to be a Goa'uld host. Unable to do anything, trapped in your own mind. Rodney didn't know how much he could take of this.

Her lips moved again, and she looked down at her notes. The picture changed perspective as Garin stood up and turned to leave.

---

Major Sheppard had been waiting out in the hall by Heightmeyer's office for Rodney McKay as he had the job of keeping him busy for the day. But he volunteered for it, so he didn't mind. Since Rodney had the day off from work, John had something planned that Rodney kept avoiding.

He saw the figure of McKay stepping out of the office, "How'd it go?"

"Not as bad as working with Kavanagh, but it's close." All Garin had were memories of the man and he didn't like him. If he had a man like that on his team thousands of years ago, Garin thought he would have thrown him off one of the balconies.

_Rodney saw John for a moment, and Garin's gaze turned down the hallway, they were walking side by side._

"It's necessary if you want to go back to working with all the other geeks."

"Yea, I thought I'd just peek in the lab and check how the projects are progressing."

John reminded who he thought was Rodney, "You're not stepping a foot in there, Doctor's orders. Two of them."

Garin continued to attempt and act like Rodney, "Well, what am I supposed to do all day? And as much as I'm sure you're having fun babysitting me, don't you have somewhere to be?"

_Rodney saw on them on the screen walking into the transporter, John pressing a familiar coordinate, and smiled at what was in store for Garin. "Ha… let's see how you like this!"_

"_What are you referring to, Dr. McKay?"_

_Rodney jumped a little at the Garin's voice echoing in his world, "You can read my mind, you figure it out."_

John smiled as they stepped out, "Well, I thought we should take the opportunity to get in some long evaded training."

Garin looked at him as he was accessing Rodney's memories, "Training? No I don't think that's a good idea, let's just go up to the mess hall and grab something to eat." He stopped walking, but John dragged him along.

"Oh come on McKay, you can't get out of this one. There's no excuse you can come up with." John thought the gymnasium door open to reveal Teyla already waiting with the staff/sticks and a duffel bag strewn in the corner. John had informed her and Lt. Ford of the situation, them all being team members.

"You two are late." She kindly criticized.

"McKay's appointment with Heightmeyer ran long." John pulled 'McKay' fully in the room.

"Hi Rodney, how are the sessions progressing?"

Garin gave his best snarky impression of Rodney, "Fabulous."

"_You just had to be a scientist that goes off-world didn't you, McKay?"_

_Rodney laughed at Garin being so uncomfortable, "Then why don't you just get out of my body!" He screamed as he continued to stand and watch the screen._

"_That won't be happening."_

Teyla threw Garin a staff and smiled, "Have you been practicing or spending all your time in that lab of yours?"

"Well, I… you know with all the responsibilities I have, and being on the team, I don't have much free time to practice."

"I didn't think so. We should begin." Teyla took a stance and John moved off to the side and sat down on the bench by the window.

John watched as Teyla gently sparred with 'McKay' and routinely beat him in every move. He studied 'McKay's' techniques and could have sworn they were different somehow, still like how a scientist would fight, but just unlike what he had seen before out of Rodney.

_Rodney was really enjoying this, "Get him, Teyla! Hit him again!" _

"_Silence Dr. McKay or I'll turn the show off. I could also just leave you in a constant state of black outs." Garin's voice echoed in Rodney's mind._

_As much as he hated being told what to do, Rodney thought not being able to see would make this horrible experience much worse. He hissed, "Fine, Garin."_

The match continued for a few minutes, and ended with Garin sprawled on the ground with Teyla's foot on his chest. She helped him up, "You should continue to practice if you want to be successful in a fight with a Wraith."

"I know, I know." Garin dusted off his pants as Lt. Ford walked in.

John looked up, "Hey Lieutenant, care to join us?"

"Yea, I thought that since you all were down here, I might as well join the fun, sir."

Garin snipped in Rodney's voice, "What is this, team bonding day?" _"Damn McKay, can't people just leave you alone?"_

_He curtly scoffed, "Welcome to my life." Rodney could swear he heard Garin grumble at that comment.

* * *

_

**TBC…**


	6. Prisoner of a Mind

**Chapter 6**_- Prisoner of a Mind_

Following the cleaning up after the never-ending team bonding training session, Major Sheppard, Teyla, and who they thought was Rodney McKay, headed to the mess hall. They were standing in line, Teyla first then Sheppard and McKay, chatting about something Garin couldn't have cared less about. Ford had some military business to attend to and excused himself from their company earlier in the gymnasium.

Dr. Garin Trelio so far had been successful at playing the impossible part of Rodney McKay, he had already gotten through one session with Heightmeyer without raising her suspicions. He actually was having fun, being able to talk to people like that, and them expecting it.

Garin eyed the choices at the table, saw a bowl of fruit, and reached out for it.

"_No, no, no, don't even touch that!"_

Garin jolted his hand back, _"Why not, McKay?"_

"_Because I am deathly allergic to citrus! One bite and you would kill me!" Rodney was now sitting on a chair watching._

"_I have not accessed that part of your memories yet."_

"_That's should have been one of the first things you did! Since you obviously can't handle being me, let's just trot down to your office and put you back in your computer."_

"_As I have said, that won't be happening. I could however find a way to delete you,_ _McKay, so don't press your luck."_

_Rodney crossed his arms and bowed his head, his lower lip quivering and his eyes watering._

John had seen the little moment of McKay almost willingly grabbing what was clearly was a citrus fruit, and it raised his reservations a little more. The trio found a table and sat down, Garin by himself on one side.

"So, McKay, how's Garin?" John stuck his fork in a type of salad made with some sort of cousins to Earth rice and vegetables.

"From what Kate tells me, he's dandy. He hasn't surfaced except when she requests."

John asked, "You haven't… talked to him?"

"No, but she said it is usual this early." Garin took a sip of his water.

Teyla questioned, "Is it possible you'll be allowed to return to your work soon?"

Picking up a piece of meat with his fork John commented, "The city won't fall apart without you, but the sooner you're back the better for all of us." He moved the fork to his mouth but missed, and the gravy covered piece fell on his shirt.

Garin avoided Teyla's question, "Need a bib, Major, to go along with that black eye?"

John picked the piece of meat off, "That'd be the day, the military commander wearing a bib to dinner."

Teyla smiled, "Perhaps we could personalize it, what do you suggest Rodney?"

"How about 'I am not a baby, I am the Military CO'? "

John stood up, "You two have it out for me don't you? I'll be right back, going to change my shirt."

_Rodney watched, wondering how they couldn't tell that Garin was masquerading as him._

Garin focused his sights on Teyla. _"You have some terribly beautiful women here McKay. Teyla, Elizabeth, Kate, that nurse Carolyn, a few of the scientists…"_

_Rodney suddenly became very protective, "If you touch one of them I'll-"_

"_You'll what? And you forget I am looking for someone to be my wife's body."_

"_I'll think of something! You can't do this to someone else, it isn't right! … Oh god…" He rubbed his face apparently just realizing what 'husband and wife' would mean for him and whoever Garin chose. He got very quiet._

_This was the first full day Rodney didn't have any control over his body, and already he was so frustrated he wanted to scream forever. It was simply too much to take. He wanted to sink down to the ground, but he couldn't give up… there had to be a way out of this, a way to fight Garin, but it's hard to fight someone who can read your mind and knows what you're about to do next._

Xxx xxx

Dr. Heightmeyer looked up from her desk, "Good morning…"

"Rodney, of course." Garin replied as he sat down in the chair over in the sitting area.

"I was just checking. You are early." She stood and picked up McKay's case file and the recorder.

"I thought I'd get this done with as soon as possible."

"Anxious?" Kate walked over and sat opposite him.

"Extremely. I want to get back to the somewhat normal of my life around here."

"That is completely understandable."

_Rodney couldn't watch, he was tired of watching. It was now the second full day of this and he was getting extremely emotionally drained. After dinner the previous day, he had sat through another session that Garin played him, and played him to a tee. Garin had made the choice to not have his character of 'Garin' come through in the night's session._

_Rodney was walking around in front of the Gate, by the two ridiculously orange couches that Garin still had there. Who had orange couches? He sighed and sat on the edge of the one that he had originally had._

_Someone had to know it wasn't really him, someone had to solve the riddles of 13B and fix this. One of his geeks just had to break Garin's code on his computer, but meanwhile Rodney would fight._

_He looked at the other couch, 'No too big…,' and decided to try something smaller. He folded his hands and thought of his coffee mug…sitting there on the other couch… but nothing happened. He couldn't control even that little thing, and it hurt. He lowered his head. The thought crossed his mind that maybe being in a constant state of blackouts wasn't such a bad idea._

"Is it still you Rodney?" Kate asked after just requesting to speak to Garin.

"Yea, that's good right? I mean is he gone…?" Garin acted.

She didn't say anything for a moment, but then continued the session.

Xxx

Major Sheppard walked into the debriefing room to find Heightmeyer, Beckett, and Weir already there and discussing what Kate and Carson had decided to do about Rodney McKay.

"Are you sure he's up to it?" Elizabeth asked the doctors.

"Up to what?" John sat down.

"Rodney returning to work." Kate replied and then continued, "I can't keep him from working indefinitely, and it's not as if we can ship him back to Earth. Being back in his element would do him some good. Garin hasn't surfaced since yesterday morning, and only then only because I asked. I've instructed Rodney to keep track of his time and report any experiences of amnesia to me."

John looked around at the group, "That's it?"

"I am continuing sessions with him every morning to monitor him."

Elizabeth added, "He, however, is not going on any missions for a couple of weeks, or until we are positive this episode has passed."

That satisfied Major Sheppard a little bit, at least they were still showing caution. "Beckett, ever figure out what Garin was injecting into Rodney's system?"

"The chemical is a sulfur-based compound, not a narcotic or a stimulant. So I have to keep running tests to determine what it exactly did."

"We're late, aren't we?" A British accent-laden voice sounded a tad sheepishly.

"Yes, actually you are, but you weren't the only ones." Elizabeth shot a teasing glance at John. Peter Grodin and Radek Zelenka took seats on Carson's side of the table followed by Teyla Emmagan and Lt. Ford.

Carson filled them in. "Rodney's going back to work, but not off-world, and Kate will be continuing sessions."

Elizabeth sat looking around at the assembly. These were probably the closest people to Rodney out of the whole expedition, and they all still looked worried. It had been a taxing past two days, this being the third morning since Garin had punched Major Sheppard outside the infirmary. It also weighed heavily on her mind that her Chief Scientist was going through something like this. They needed him and everyone on the expedition knew it, no matter if they didn't care for him.

She spoke, "I want you all to keep on eye on Rodney. Not following him around, that would most likely do more harm than good, but watch him nonetheless."

The others nodded in agreement, secretly planning to already, before she said anything.

---

Garin strolled into the lab, without an escort, to the shock of everyone in there who thought McKay was still on medical leave. Kate had let him work that day, and until there was a recurrence of 'Garin.'

"What's everyone glaring at? Get to work people!" He snipped, and the scientists went back to whatever they were doing before.

There had been rumors about how Rodney's leave coincided with John suddenly sporting the black eye, but since they were seen walking around together, the rumors had died down.

Garin found where Rodney usually worked and sat. He looked at what these Earthlings had been doing recently in Atlantis and thought that they had done a remarkably resourceful job with what they had. Second evolution of his and his people's form indeed. He thought they had an inquisitive spirit.

Xxx

Radek and John walked quickly to the lab after the meeting broke up, they didn't even have to think about where McKay would be. Peter had gone back to the Control Balcony, Carson and Kate to their offices, and Elizabeth to hers. Ford and Teyla went off to go sparring.

They moved into the lab, and sure enough there was McKay badgering the female Asian scientist Miko over one of the computers, "No, no, no, this code first, then this one. Unless you want to blow us all up!"

John coughed, "McKay."

Garin looked up and snipped, "Major. Zelenka. How nice of you to join us."

"I was about to leave, work to do elsewhere." Radek nodded to John, picked up his laptop, and promptly left.

Garin directed his speech at John, "Where is he going?"

He shrugged, "Like I would know."

---

Radek turned on his radio as he headed into the transporter, "Peter, do you have time?"

"_Possibly, for what may I ask?"_

"I'm going to 13B, may need your help."

"_I'll meet you there in a moment."_

Radek stepped out and headed down the hallway until he came to the door of the lab. He opened the door and walked in. It was still the same as the one and only time he had been there, the day before Rodney started having black outs. The desk was by the far wall, with a built in computer, keyboard, and monitor and an attached panel on the top, equipment on the counters, and cabinets, one with a keypad, which they hadn't been able to open, yet. He sat down behind the desk and powered up the computer.

True to his word, a few moments later Peter walked in.

"Close door." Radek said without looking up.

"Oh right, this being secret and all." Peter closed the lab door as Radek turned on his radio. "We're working on it, Major."

"_Mmhmm." _John mumbled, avoiding talking since McKay was a few feet from him in the main lab.

Peter walked over to the desk, "So this is where Garin came during the first black out, and we want to know why."

"Yes."

"And only Major Sheppard knows we're here and he's watching Rodney."

"Yes."

"Why is he the only one?"

"Because it might turn up nothing, and the less that know the better."

Peter nodded in understanding, he had been the one to see Rodney walk in here as Garin. "Then maybe we'll find out why this place was locked up like a safe too."

The computer was now fully on, "It requires a code to access it, and then from what Rodney and I could tell, it will also be encrypted."

Peter sat in the other chair that had been there, "Let's get to work, and then we'll move on to that strangely locked cabinet."

They opened their laptops and after a few minutes of working Peter found something. "Radek, did you know that locked cabinet is drawing a small amount of power?"

"Really?" He looked over at the screen on Peter's laptop, "So it is. Strange."

"Very."

They went back to work, determined to solve the mysteries of the lab.

Xxx

A couple of hours later, after putting 13B back the way they found it, Peter and Radek met Major Sheppard in the hallway outside the Gateroom.

"Anything?" John quietly asked.

The two scientists shook their heads and Peter replied, "Whoever that lab belonged to was intelligent and protective of his work."

John sighed, "Can you hack into the computer?"

This time they nodded and Radek answered, "With time."

Xxx xxx

Garin walked back to Rodney's quarters after a long day in the main lab working on the team's on-going projects of power supply, keeping the city running, and researching newly found technologies. It was strange to him how they didn't know how a lot of the devices worked, but he couldn't simply come out and tell them or he would blow his cover.

He sat down, closed his eyes, and opened them in the world he had recreated for Rodney. He saw him sitting on the ground in front of one of the couches resting against it, his eyes closed. Garin sat down on the opposite couch, "You and your people seem to be in awe of my city."

Rodney opened his eyes, "_Your_ city? You don't sound what's the word, _sane_."

"What did you think, the city built itself?"

"_You_ designed the city?" Rodney was still sitting on the ground.

"Atlantis was flown here to Pegasus a couple million years before I was alive. I led the team that… restructured it to better withstand a Wraith attack. When the original architects constructed it, they couldn't imagine we would encounter a hostile race with rival technology. You obviously have no comprehension of its abilities. After spending time accessing your brain, I've come to understand that you couldn't submerge the city if the need arose. You would be… as you say… sitting ducks on the surface for when the Wraith arrive. They will not be merciful. Though I do believe you could have figured it out, with time. You are a genius among your people, as I was. I'll just have to submerge the city again, after a suitable power source is secured."

Strange as it was, Rodney was a little flattered that this Ancient admitted he, Rodney McKay, was a genius. But to Rodney, Garin seemed more like a mad scientist than a genius. He crossed his arms and didn't respond to this new information.

Garin kept talking, "You disabled the grounding stations to power the shield during the storm, interesting solution. Of course we never had to do that since power wasn't an issue, but whatever works."

Rodney now bowed his head, but kept his eyes blankly looking up at Garin. He was wondering why Garin Trelio felt the need to talk to him like this. It could be because he was the only one who knew who Garin really was, that Garin was walking around in his body, pretending to be him. It all was surreal to be talking in his mind with an Ancient scientist who was responsible for the last revamp of Atlantis… and he wanted to scream.

"Goodbye Dr. McKay, I have some business to attend to."

Now Rodney lifted his head, "What business?"

"I have to make a certain compound, much more potent of course so it will only take one dose."

He got off the ground as he was yelling, "No! You can't! I won't let you!" but by the time he got to the other couch, Dr. Garin Trelio was gone.

**TBC…**


	7. Takeover

**Chapter 7**_- Takeover_

"Kate, do you have a moment?" Garin stood by her office door early the next morning still in Rodney's body, wearing the khaki outfit with the jacket.

She turned from the shelf, holding a book, "Your appointment is not for another hour Rodney." She sat down at her desk and opened the book.

He moved in further into the room, "This has nothing to do with my appointment, I need you to do me a favor."

She looked at him a little confusedly, "What favor?"

Garin jerked his head towards to door, "You'll see, just come on, I don't have all day."

"I suppose I have time." She stood and followed him out into the hallway.

They walked into the transporter and Garin entered the destination.

_Rodney had again woken up when Garin did, and was sitting in front of the Control Balcony's large screen in his own little world. He saw where Garin was taking Kate. 'Oh no, no, no…'_

The doors opened and Garin let Kate step out first, guiding his arm behind her. They walked down the hall until Garin stopped, "It's in here." He opened the door to 13B.

"What is?" She looked into the room, not liking this too much, but paying close attention to his behavior.

He walked in, calling behind him, "The device I found. I need you to help me with it."

She stepped in and the door closed behind her. Garin mentally locked it, thankful Rodney had been given Carson's gene therapy, and moved to behind his desk, the computer already on as Garin had made a stop there earlier.

Kate looked around the somewhat small room, "So, where is the device?"

Garin waved her over, "Right here," he pointed to the panel on top of the desk. "I've already activated it, I just need someone to be touching it."

Kate walked closer, "Why me?" Even though she had lived in this city as long as anyone, Ancient technology still bothered her. She and Carson once had a conversation about it, he also being wary of it, but they couldn't really pinpoint why.

_Rodney was watching the scene unfold and stood, "No, no, no, no, no, Kate! Get out of there! Run! … Garin, don't do this, it's wrong and you know it!"_

_No response came and he got the distinct impression that Garin wasn't listening anymore._

Garin was typing away, "Well Major Sheppard has run off somewhere, Carson is busy with patients, and the other scientists refuse to budge from their positions."

It seemed reasonable enough, "Alright." Kate stepped forward again, now right in front of the desk. "What does it do?" She traced the outer edge of it.

"Scans the mind. I thought you would be interested in it." He typed the final instruction.

"Hmm, could it detect abnormalities?"

"It's possible, but we won't know until it's used. So just place your hand on it."

She hovered her hand over the panel.

_Rodney was frantically beating the screen with his fists, trying desperately to take control and stop her, "No! KATE! DON'T!"_

After a moment she placed her hand firmly on it.

Kate jerked her hand back from an electrical shock that surged through her, "What was that!" She shook her hand and looked at who she still thought was Rodney, who was smirking.

"It's supposed to do that." He fiddled with something in his jacket pocket and moved around to the other side of the desk, next to Kate.

"Well it would have been nice if I was warned." She crossed her arms in anger.

He pulled something out of his pocket and grabbed her arm, she looked down and saw a needle, shock spread across her face.

"Garin!" She struggled from his grasp and felt for her radio, but she had forgotten it. She ran for the door, but Garin came up from behind her and grabbed her waist.

She screamed, "Help!" but Garin promptly put his hand over her mouth and muffled it.

He whispered in her ear, "Shh, screaming is not very nice."

Kate was breathing heavily, her heart racing, not knowing exactly what was going on, except Garin had suddenly surfaced. Then she thought maybe it had been him the whole time.

_Rodney could see through Garin's eyes and knew he was holding her still. He saw a flash of a needle pass by his gaze. His eyes were widened with fear and disbelief._

Garin quickly injected the new-and-improved mind suppressant compound into Kate's arm. He returned the needle to his jacket pocket and continued to hold on to her.

He talked in her ear, still holding his hand over her mouth, "Now, I'm going to release you, but you have to promise not to scream. It won't do any good anyway, these walls are soundproof."

Kate nodded, her face showing her fear. Garin let her go slowly, and she quickly backed away from him, eyeing the door.

Garin stood with his hands in his pockets, "Door's locked."

She went over to it, touching the side panel to open it, but it wouldn't budge. She stayed there, "You are Garin?"

"Yes. It's been fun playing the role of Rodney McKay." He saw the look on her face, "Oh, don't look so crushed, I had everyone fooled."

"What did you do to me?"

He looked at his watch, "No time to explain."

_After Garin had injected Kate, Rodney sat back down on the chair, staring at the screen. His face was red, his eyes widened. He couldn't believe this was happening, that they were being taken over like this. His eyes started to tear up, not knowing if he would ever get out of this mess, if he could get Kate out of this mess._

Kate's head twitched, and she closed her eyes. When they opened they darted around the room and fell on Garin, in Rodney's body.

Garin took a step closer and almost whispered, "Elana? It's me, Garin."

Her eyes went up and down his body, "Well, don't you look different. Why is that?"

He pulled her in his arms and hugged her, "There were complications."

"Obviously." She pulled away, "What happened?"

"We can't get caught in here." He shut his computer down, like he found it, thought the door open and, waved her out into the hall, "It's been 10,000 years and the others abandoned the city for Earth. Let's go up to your office, I'll explain more there."

"You'd better." She looked at him again, almost not believing this.

They made their way to Kate's office quickly and quietly, passing people Elana never saw before in her life. When Elana Trelio walked in, she gasped, "It's changed! I mean it still looks like my office, but these things aren't mine."

Garin closed the door behind them, "They're Kate's."

Elana turned around, "Who's Kate?"

"The woman whose body you currently reside in."

"What! Garin, what exactly happened?"

They sat down in Kate's little session area, opposite each other. "After I copied your consciousness and you… died from the effects of being fed upon, I attempted to use cells from your body for a clone, but it wouldn't work. The stress had been too great. I then began research on a suppressant and planned on using another body, but the Council found out so I copied myself."

"And the man you reside in…"

"Touched the panel a few days ago. Dr. Rodney McKay."

"Doctor?"

"Astrophysicist."

"This isn't right Garin. It violates all codes of ethics I abide by."

He took her hands, "Just try it for me. I want you to take a breath, close your eyes, and focus on her memories."

Elana did just that, her eyes moving back and forth under her eyelids. After a few moments she opened them. "Kate Heightmeyer, psychologist. And you Garin played an awfully mean trick on her, pretending to have a disorder."

He shrugged, "I had to cover. My suppressant wasn't the same as I used for you. It was weaker."

"I still do not approve of this. These are people we are in! They have lives and minds of their own." Elana leaned back and pried her hands from his.

"I thought you would be pleased."

"It is quite interesting how you assumed an astrophysicist's life and found me a psychologist so I would be quite comfortable, but I can't do this."

"Please Elana, I love you." He took her hands again, "If it doesn't work, I'll reverse it."

She looked into her husband's new eyes, "You promise?"

"Yes." He leaned in and kissed her gently and then progressed, wrapping his arms around her.

She broke it, "I have clients to attend to, and a meeting with Dr. Weir about Rodney, well, you."

"See, back to normal already. You throw me out because you have patients and meetings." He stood, "I'll see you later?

She suggested, "Lunch?"

"Sounds good. Meet you there." He started heading to the door, she stood, and he ran back and kissed her again, "One for the road."

She laughed, "Out with you doctor."

_Rodney put his hands over his eyes and started swearing violently. This wasn't good, not good at all. Garin had succeeded in his plan, and in the process eliminated the resident psychologist who the others would turn to for reassurance that 'he' was back to normal._

Xxx

Garin walked into the mess hall for lunch and looked around the room for Elana. Sure enough she was sitting in the corner, by the window, at the table where they had always eaten. He quickly grabbed some food and sat down across from her.

Smiling he greeted her, "Hi… Kate."

"Hi Rodney. That sounds so bizarre." She took a bite of her food.

"Yes, it does. How was your morning?"

"Amazingly like they always were. See patients, meet my husband for lunch…"

He took a sip of his drink, "You make it sound boring."

"Only when I'm not off-world treating…" She let the sentence trail off at the look in Garin's eyes. She reached over the table touching his hand, "I'm sorry, I forgot."

"How could you forget! For you it was literally two days ago!"

She whispered sternly looking around at the room, "Keep your voice down."

"You're right. We don't want to draw unwanted attention."

"And we shouldn't act…married in public. Rodney and Kate aren't together."

"I know that, you insult my intelligence." He teased.

"I would never do that," She teased back. "This food is… interesting…" She looked at a tava been on her fork.

"Interesting is not the word for it. It's only likely this galaxy's humans developed different tastes and foods in 10,000 years." He eyed some of his food inquisitively.

"Maybe I'll sneak the cooks some of my recipes, anonymously." She smiled a little.

"I wish you would, I'm starting to go crazy eating this." They both laughed.

"It's amazing how little they know of this city isn't it?" She picked up her glass and took a drink as she looked out the window at the city.

"Yes. I work in the lab and I'm amazed. Though they are very curious about us." He took another bite.

"We never thought that would happen. We just… lived, tried to make the universe better."

"Overlooking the Wraith until it was too late." Garin looked down at his tray.

"They will come here, and in force. At least one armada. They had us under siege for years." Elana also looked at her tray.

Garin sighed and looked up, "Let's not dwell. For now we have a chance at life again."

Elana smiled unsure, "I suppose we do."

Xxx xxx

Radek and Peter again snuck away to 13B to work on hacking into the computer. It was already past six, it was hard to pry themselves away from their actual jobs, this being done under the radar. They were sitting there, trying to bypass the code.

Radek pressed a few keys on his laptop and started swearing in Czech.

"What is it Radek?"

"This should have worked." He pointed to the Ancient computer's monitor.

Peter agreed, "Yes it should have." He took a closer look, "No, wait here." He typed a few things directly into the computer.

Radek read it, "Of course." He continued typing and entered it.

The screen changed to Ancient lettering, in a sequence that didn't make any sense.

"It is encrypted. You and Rodney were right."

"Progress?"

Peter and Radek practically jumped out of their chairs but saw it was only Major Sheppard.

"Care to warn us before you come in here?" Peter said.

"Oh, sorry."

"We're in." Radek said as he pushed up his glasses.

John smiled, "You are! That's great, what does it say?" Maybe they would finally get some answers.

Peter explained, "We still need to decrypt it."

John's hopes fell, "Oh, how long will that take?"

"Awhile." The two scientists said in unison.

John stayed as the two men worked into the late hours, hoping they would be able to decipher this Ancient's computer soon. He knew on the mission to the savannah-like planet with the ruins it was Garin. But something had just been bothering him about McKay since Kate and Carson let him go back to work, and even a little before that, at the training session. At those times he was supposed to be Rodney, but John just had his reservations.

Xxx

Rodney was still in his private world, and for the first time the screen was off, not that Rodney had been watching it since the scene in Kate's office anyway. He just couldn't.

He was lying on his still ridiculously orange couch, eyes closed, trying to come up with a plan to assert control. It was _his_ body, he should be the stronger consciousness, but he was emotionally drained from the experience and it was hard to even just exist. That suppressant was certainly did its job.

He wondered if Kate was experiencing the same thing as he was, and hoped for her sake she wasn't.

**TBC…**


	8. Through Sickness and in Health

**Chapter 8**-_Through Sickness and in Health_

Dr. Garin Trelio woke up on his back in Rodney McKay's bed and automatically rolled on his right side and reached out. He patted the bed, feeling around, but found no one. He grunted as he opened his eyes, sat up, threw the covers off, and went over to take a shower. Thankfully since McKay was one of the senior staff, he had one of the best quarters they had found yet, with a private bathroom.

He then proceeded to get dressed and headed to the mess hall for breakfast and then planned on setting off to the lab. He walked through the halls remembering the faces of his former colleagues that he would have greeted, but instead seeing the faces of the Atlantis Expedition.

Walking into the mess hall and picking up a tray, he looked over at the corner and Elana was already there, eating and looking at a file. After hurriedly getting some food, he headed over and sat down across from her.

"Morning."

She looked up and smiled, "Hello."

"You were gone when I woke up."

She sighed and leaned forward, "We can't exactly have the resident psychologist leaving her patient's quarters in the mornings. It wouldn't look… good." She leaned back.

"I know that, you could have told me you were leaving though." Garin moped, picking at his food.

"You know how you sleep, I could smack you in the face and you wouldn't wake up." She smiled at the memories of trying to get him out of bed every morning, literally having to drag him out to wake him.

He knew it was true and cheered up a little, "Yes, anyway how's your schedule for the day?"

"Apparently Kate scheduled today off, but I plan on reviewing her files. Memories sometimes do not suffice in these matters. You?"

"Lab work. I have the science department to run and Rodney liked to do everything himself. He kept extremely busy."

"Maybe you should delegate more work to the others. I'm sure they're qualified, I could even do most of the things they're doing."

"That's what makes it so frustrating. I could do a good part of the work in my sleep." He drank a sip of coffee, "So, you talk to Kate yet?"

Elana set her fork down, "Excuse me?"

"Talk to her in her mind…"

Her mouth dropped open, "You talk to Rodney?"

"I have before. He's lying on a couch right now by the Gate, attempting to think of a way to assert control."

She leaned forward, "He's conscious! Garin, I can't believe you!"

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Yes it is! You're torturing the man! At least I have Kate in a constant black out."

Garin reached across the table and put his hand over hers, "Calm down, Elana."

She pulled her hand away and put it in her lap speaking sternly, "Don't touch me. You are not the man I married. Something happened to you after I was attacked on that planet and I need to know what at this very moment or I am walking away from here, from you, from this life."

"It was nothing. Now please-"

She softened her voice, "I know it is a conflict of interest to have you as a patient, but I don't see any other choice. Something has changed you, and it had to be dreadful. I can help you, it's what I do. Let me."

He shook his head and replied forcefully, "No, I can't."

She sighed, "You know where to find me when you decide to." She stood and walked away, leaving her tray, "I have to go." She was fighting back tears as she hurriedly left the mess hall.

Major Sheppard had been sitting quietly on the other side of the mess hall, catching a quick breakfast when he saw McKay walk in and make a bee-line for Kate. He didn't think anything of it until he noticed Kate pulling her hand from Rodney's and looking very upset, and then ultimately leaving him sitting there looking stunned and angry. It looked like they just had a lovers' quarrel, but he thought that wasn't possible.

He turned his tray in and made his way to the corner table, where McKay was sitting, staring out of the window at the city and the ocean. He sat down, "McKay, what's going on?"

Garin snapped, "Nothing, absolutely nothing," and left John sitting there, wondering what the hell was going on with Rodney McKay, and now with Kate. He got up and followed.

Garin Trelio stormed out of the mess hall and turned down the hallway. He had to find Elana before she discovered the truth. He had just ruined all his plans by revealing to Elana that one piece of information, she didn't take ethical matters lightly. It was hard enough convincing her to give this a chance. He couldn't tell her what happened after he made a duplicate of her mind, those two weeks had been the worst of his life and he wanted to push he memories away, start a new life, and forget what he had done out of anger, spite, and resentment.

The last thing he remembered was people banging at his office door and copying his own mind as a last resort. He was that copied consciousness, as was Elana, they wouldn't remember their deaths. He could only speculate what happened after he copied himself, but he knew he wouldn't have let them take him alive.

---

Elana went directly into the transporter, wiping her eyes. The doors closed and she pressed the coordinates in. Garin had an experience after he copied her consciousness and before he copied his own, and she had to find out what. A memory she had fought for the past day suddenly came flooding back at that thought.

"_Wraith are in the city, all non military to the transport!"_

_Elana heard the call over the private communicators they all had, and made her way to the Bay, she turned a corner and ran right into a male Wraith. He snarled and put his hand on her chest, starving. She could feel her life being taken, pain surging throughout her body, forcing her to her knees, and it seemed as if it was forever before it stopped. When it did, she saw a soldier standing over the knocked-out Wraith and who then promptly shot him._

"_Dr. Trelio, let's get you back to Atlantis."_

_She looked down at her hands and was in a state of shock, they looked so old…_

_-_

_She was lying in a hospital bed late at night, Garin in a chair next to her, his head bowed, her eyes fluttered open._

_He looked up with a red face, obviously he had been crying, "Elana…"_

"_It's bad, I know." She whispered._

"_No, you'll be fine." He tried to convince her and himself._

"_I should have never left Atlantis…"_

_His mind snapped with an idea, "I can fix this."_

"_Your research?"_

"_Yes." He picked her frail body up and made his way to his private lab and office. "I haven't had the chance to go to a real trial yet, but I can copy you now and then I'll…" He sniffed, "I'll make you a clone once the process is perfected." He walked into his lab and entered some things in his computer with one hand, still holding her. "I love you."_

"_Love you too." She placed her hand on the panel._

Elana shook off the horrible memory and walked through a dark hall, one the expedition hadn't explored yet and stopped outside the library. She stepped in, the library didn't contain shelves of books, but rows of consoles. She looked around at the consoles that had been covered with material and went over to one, pulling the sheet off, revealing the monitor.

She took off the headset radio, not noticing the earring that came off with it, put it aside, and turned the console on. She started going through the database, looking for the articles from the time from the attack on the other city and the days after, which she found knowing exactly where to search. She began reading.

_-The Wraith attack on Anfalas has left the outskirt city destroyed and hundreds dead… … …_

_-The whole population of Atlantis gathered on the Northernmost Pier to send Dr. Elana Trelio off into death. She was attacked by a Wraith and passed away yesterday here in the city. Dr. Zachary Hulin spoke at the ceremony:_

"_It is with heavy hearts that we are all here today. Elana was not only my sister and my friend, she was the hope in all of us. I am sure Dr. Garin Trelio would agree with me as I say she was one of the most talented psychologists among her colleagues. Most of us have lost loved ones in the war, and one thing we could be sure of the very moment news came in, was an empty seat in her office and her waiting with an open ear ……"_

Her tears came back, "Oh Zach…" It was bizarre to read the speech from her funeral. She moved on to the next articles.

_-Dr. Garin Trelio has been relieved of his duties by the Council upon the discovery of his plans to use his research to resurrect his wife, Psychologist Elana Trelio, in a cloned body that is not genetically her, and develop a mind-suppressant. The damage to her original body had been too great for him to use its cells… … …He led the team that restructured Atlantis and his absence will be felt. His work will be passed on to the rest of the team in hopes it will lead to results…_

_-Dr. Garin Trelio has refused to stop his research and leave his work to the other scientists, and confronted Council Member Davis in his office, requiring security to remove him…_

_-Authorities are investigating Council Member Davis's death. He was found last night strangled in his quarters. This comes after another homicide, Council Member Lockhart who was found in her office, struck by a blow to her head…_

_-Dr. Garin Trelio was killed last night in a scuffle in his private office by authorities who were attempting to take him into custody. Surveillance had revealed Dr. Trelio committing the recent murders. His office has been ordered sealed and the research abandoned due to its corrupting and degenerative nature……_

Elana stared at the screen, her eyes darting back and forth at the words that told her husband had become a murderer after her death. He must have copied his consciousness into his computer shortly before they came for him. She laid her head in her arms on the console and cried alone, the sobs echoing in the empty room.

---

He turned the corner and literally ran into Dr. Weir, the person Rodney McKay knew the longest out of the whole expedition. She had requested he be put on the Atlantis Project and transferred to the Antarctica Outpost, and being as influential as she was, it happened within a week. Got him out of Russia faster than he could pack.

Garin grumbled an apology and tried leaving quickly but Elizabeth stepped in his way, "Rodney, is everything alright?" Her years as a diplomat taught her to read people's emotions in an instant.

Garin stopped facing her, "I'm fine Elizabeth. Don't worry about it." Garin did respect Dr. Weir, leading an expedition to another galaxy and discovering an enemy they knew nothing about.

_Rodney was back up in his world's Control Room, Garin returning the screen show when he woke up that morning. He considered this hell, and there was no one he could talk to about it, even Garin had been missing in action since he left to make the mind-suppressant. As much as he hated the man, now Rodney was utterly alone._

_It was now the fourth day since Garin had taken complete control, and Rodney couldn't believe he was still in this situation, that he had watched helplessly as Kate was brought into it. This was tearing him up, not being able to find a way out, and relying on others to save him when normally he'd be the one with some brilliant plan._

_Garin still had full control, and unless he relinquished it or let his guard down, there seemed to be nothing Rodney could do._

_He was wondering how Garin's wife was, if she was like him at all and doing the same thing with Kate in her mind. He hoped she was more humane._

_He was rubbing his face in frustration when Garin had bumped into Elizabeth. If anyone, she had to know something was wrong, Garin couldn't be that skilled of an actor could he? Major Sheppard and Elizabeth should know…_

Elizabeth eyed the man standing before her, he was acting completely different then when she saw him the day before, after lunch, walking with Dr. Heightmeyer. Yesterday he looked… happy, happier than she had seen him for a long time, and Kate was well… that was tough.

They had a brief meeting yesterday morning and even then she was acting content, but Elizabeth knew there was something beneath that emotion. She had tried to find Kate the night before to discuss some things, lend an ear, but couldn't find her. After all, who was the resident psychologist supposed to confide in? Now Rodney was upset and storming off somewhere.

"We can go on one of the balconies if you need to talk, one of the search teams just found a secluded one about a minute away."

Garin shook his head, "No, that's alright, I just need to take a walk." He moved around her, somehow being unable to defy her forcefully.

Elizabeth gave a slight smile and followed on his left side, "Then I'll walk with you."

He glanced over at the figure of Elizabeth walking next to him and thought she was one delicately persuasive woman and protective of the people in her command. He would have to watch out for her, be careful of what he said around her.

They went around a corner in silence and heard a shout behind them, "Hey, wait up!" They stopped and turned around to see Major Sheppard strolling towards them.

Garin was silently swearing, the two people in the whole city that would be the ones to tell he wasn't really Rodney McKay had now, without knowing it, gained up on him. But it provided him with a chance to sneak off.

Elizabeth greeted him, "Major."

Before John had a chance to respond, Garin cut in, "I have work to do." He hurriedly turned back around and stepped into the transporter, feeling their inquisitive eyes on his back the whole way.

After the transporter doors closed, John commented, "That was… weird."

"Yes it was. He's acting… I can't place it, but something is on his mind and he won't talk about it."

"You've noticed it too?"

Elizabeth looked around the hallway and saw the insane amount of people, "Let's go talk in my office."

They walked quickly, but without drawing extra attention to themselves, up to Elizabeth's office and closed the door.

"So Major, what do you have to tell me?"

John shifted his weight, "Not much exactly except I have had this nagging feeling about him since the day after Heightmeyer and Beckett released him from the infirmary. Something just isn't right."

Elizabeth sighed, "Same here. Anyone else you know of that feels this way?"

"Teyla and Ford noticed a subtle change in his sparring and Grodin and Zelenka think he's even more high-and-mighty in the lab than usual."

"And no one tells me these things!"

"Well, it's not anything really specific, feelings really, and you always seem to be in one meeting or another lately, you know making sure the city is running smoothly."

"I'll let you all off this time. I'll contact Dr. Heightmeyer." She keyed her radio, "Heightmeyer, it's Weir, come in." She listened for a moment but got no response, "Kate?" Still nothing.

---

After a minute, Elana pulled herself together, got up from the console, set everything back, picked up the headset that she hadn't heard go off, and left the library. She knew she had to go somewhere to talk to Kate, somewhere where Garin couldn't find her.

She didn't know what he would do once he found out what she discovered about him, and that now she wanted out, and with this new information, she didn't know if he would let her. He was changed. The man she knew and loved was a brilliant scientist, not a murderer.

He knew her too well, would know that she was in the library to figure out for herself what happened. It was hard to find a place that Garin wouldn't know, considering he knew the city better than anyone from their time. He could walk around with his eyes closed and know exactly where he was. It was downright freaky. So the trick was to go somewhere he wouldn't think she would go, where she could talk to Kate in peace, without the threat of being found.

---

John suggested, "Could be in her office."

Elizabeth activated the Ancient version of an intercom on her desk, "Kate?" Again no response. "Where in the world could she be? It has been hard to find her since yesterday evening."

John shrugged, "Out for a walk? Speaking of Heightmeyer, I saw her and McKay have a little dispute at breakfast."

She raised her eyebrow, "You're telling me this _now_?"

"It just came up now."

"Odd. I saw them together yesterday, Rodney cheerful, Kate… acting cheerful, and now they have a spat at breakfast?"

"And she's supposed to be treating him, not fighting with him."

Elizabeth crossed her arms, thinking. "If you see Kate, tell her I'm looking for her."

John nodded and started to leave, but turned around, "Oh, and I have Zelenka and Grodin checking out 13B secretly because we have a strange feeling about that place. It coincides too well with this whole situation."

"Major!"

He darted out before he could face her wrath about yet another thing he didn't inform her about earlier.

---

Garin exited the transporter at the end of a dark hall and immediately ran down to the library, he thought the door open and walked in, noticing one of the covers was strewn haphazardly on one of the consoles. He stepped over to investigate and saw a faint glint of something on the floor.

He stooped to pick it up and noticed it was an earring, the same one Elana had been wearing. He swore under his breath and turned on the console. He did a quick search and found the articles Elana must have read, telling her exactly what happened. He kept swearing and left the empty room.

**TBC…**


	9. Revelations

**Chapter 9**_- Revelations_

Elana was walking through the halls of an unexplored part of the city heading directly where she felt the least comfortable, hoping Garin wouldn't think of the possibility of her even thinking of going there.

It was downright creepy in that part of the city, to her only a few days ago it was bustling with people, people she knew and cared about, many had passed through the doors of her office at least once, and now… now it was dark, barren, and the walls felt as if they wanted to talk to her, breathe on her.

She turned the corner, her shoes splashing in water that still must have been left over from the massive storm. Where she was going was the lowest part of the city, it needed to be. She paused at the massive hanger doors, and finally opened them with bated breath. There were double doors, like an airlock. She opened the second set. The bay was huge, as large as a Jumper Bay, but with one distinct difference, the circular opening in the floor, and one on the far side, both were closed now. She was still standing by the door in the remnants of a puddle and finally stepped in.

She hated water, was deathly afraid of it. Strange, being as she lived and worked in a city that was floating, and then submerged under several hundred feet of ocean. So it stemmed from reason that a submarine bay would be the last place she would go for comfort. There were _holes_ in the floor and wall that led out to the water, and by the looks of it, some had seeped in.

Elana eyed the dozen or so vessels that lined the sides of the bay and walked over to one. They were designed mostly like a Puddle Jumper, but narrower to better cut through the water and had other systems, which she didn't know too much about, being a psychologist. She opened the hatch in the back, stepped in, and closed it. Now she could talk to Kate without fear of interference from Garin. Once she revealed herself to Kate in her mind, the real world would fade away, allowing someone to sneak up on her, and that was a risk she wouldn't take.

---

Peter Grodin was taking a moment's break in 13B, cupping his hands around his face and breathing deeply. They were getting close to decrypting the computer, very close but they just had been too tired to finish the night before and this required an alert mind. He had managed to get down there that morning, leaving the Control Room in the capable hands of the other scientists.

His headset radio activated, _"Peter, still there?"_

"Yes Radek."

"_I won't be a moment."_

"Alright." He tilted the chair back and yawned, it had been a late night, working in that very room, but it was worth it. He leaned forward and went back to work, trying different sequences and decoding matrices.

The door slid open and Zelenka walked in, Peter didn't shift his gaze as he greeted him, he was too busy. Radek sat down, looked at the screen, and nodded in approval.

Peter stopped typing suddenly and frustratingly scratched his chin. "I can't bloody come up with the right ending sequence!"

"Take break, I'll work on it." Radek scooted Peter out of the way.

"I only just took a break."

"Your mind will not work if you are frustrated."

"I'm fine now." He scooted back over and set back to work.

---

_Rodney McKay had watched Garin practically flee from Major Sheppard and Elizabeth, and wondered what the hell was going on. Garin still hadn't shown up in his world since the night he made the mind-suppressant, the night before Kate had been taken over._

_He saw Garin walking through a part of the city he didn't know and enter a room with consoles, picked up Kate's earring, and read the articles. Rodney also read them and now he knew what Garin had meant when he said 'they turned me into a murderer,' he was serious…_

_Rodney realized this just got a whole lot worse. Not only did an Ancient have control of his body and could access his memories, this particular Ancient was a murderous, mad genius that, Rodney deduced, was chasing after his wife who didn't approve…_

"_Crap." He stood there deducing a plan, preparing his mind. He turned around and looked around the imitation Gateroom, complete with orange couches, which he had woken up in for four mornings. Rodney closed his eyes, crossed his left arm across his chest, and held out his right hand, concentrating on what he wanted to show. After a moment he felt it and opened his eyes. Sitting in his hand was a power bar._

Garin walked into Kate's office, took a quick look around, saw no one, and left. He was getting nervous now, Elana knew what he had turned into, what he became, and it would scare her. He needed to find her and convince her that it would never happen again, that it was a one time, err two times, occurrence and that was it.

As he was heading to her quarters, he looked at his right hand and saw it shaking. He turned it palm up and stopped in the middle of the hallway. Something was going wrong.

"Hey, McKay." John had walked up from behind him and stepped around to face him.

"Major." Garin looked up and put his right hand behind his back.

He noticed the odd behavior, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes. Just have a lot on my mind." He tried to leave, but John stopped him.

John narrowed his eyes, "Hey have you seen Heightmeyer anywhere by chance? Dr. Weir's looking for her."

"No, I'm looking for her myself. So if you don't mind I'm just going to continue the search." Garin moved to the left, still holding his right hand behind his back.

"Right." John looked at him as he started to walk away, but Rodney suddenly jerked out his right arm, grabbing John's.

Garin quickly pulled it back, "Um, sorry. I just thought of something but forgot. Carry on." He hastily turned the corner.

Garin continued down the hall and stopped at Kate's quarters, but she wasn't in there either. His mind was racing, Elana had disappeared and now Rodney was fighting him. He couldn't focus on keeping control when his emotions were going haywire. Fear, anxiety, nerves, and panic were surging through him.

---

She opened her eyes in her recreation of her and Kate's office. She was sitting in her chair, opposite the one for the patient which Kate was sitting in. Kate wrinkled her forehead as she looked around the room and at Elana, in her true form, a brunette.

Kate's mouth opened to ask a question, but Elana cut her off, "First of all, you've been unconscious, technically, for a day. This isn't real, we are in your mind and my name is Dr. Elana Trelio. My husband is Dr. Garin Trelio who has taken over Rodney's body. We are, as you call us, Ancients."

Kate had seen, err heard of, some bizarre happenings in this galaxy, but this was just too much. She stammered, "Excuse me?"

"Here, take my hands and I'll show you." Elana extended her hands and Kate tentatively took them. Her eyes started to dart under her closed eyelids, viewing the memories Elana was sharing with her, starting with the day of the attack on Anfalas.

She was standing outside looking up to see Wraith Darts in combat with Jumpers, hundreds of them. She saw and could feel the Wraith feeding on her bringing a tear to her eye, the night lying in the hospital bed in Atlantis, Garin carrying her to his private office, and then 10,000 years later was back in his office looking at him in Rodney's body. She also saw all the rest, leading up to this very moment.

---

Garin turned down another dark hallway and stopped at a door on the right side. He opened it and looked around the forty-foot wide room. He glanced at the tables of long-dead plants. Some reached the fifteen-foot ceiling to the skylight, some were on the rows of tables in pots just starting out, others a few inches tall with long-faded blossoms, and still others were spread around in every size imaginable.

_Rodney thought this place was obviously a greenhouse of sorts, and that the botanists would have a field day in there, give them something to do other than bug the hell out of him and the off-world teams to bring plants back, that was if he could remember where it was, and if he got out of this mess. He was certainly making progress, taking advantage of Garin's tumultuous emotional state, but now Garin had settled down a bit._

He knew Elana would often spend time in the greenhouse when she needed time to herself. He stepped in and as he walked down the middle of the room, between two dead plant-ridden tables, he look under the tables, eyed the corners, and finally moved into the backroom. The room consisted of other tables, cabinets, and some consoles. It was most likely the workroom. After a look around, he ran out, having a few more places to look.

---

Kate opened her eyes to see Elana still sitting before her, still in her mind. She laid her hands on her lap, "That is a lot to sort through."

Elana was still edgy, and nodded, talking slowly, "I know. I thought I should come to you face to face and show you everything. Now I'm going to fix this and I'll leave you here to process it and a… screen so you know what's going on. If you talk, I'll hear you and if you want to take control, that's fine, I just think that right now it would be best if I was in control if we do run into Garin."

Kate rested her right hand on her cheek and bit her lower lip, "That sounds reasonable, but what are you going to do?"

"We are making a trip to see Carson, I have a feeling he'll believe this."

"Alright, let's go."

Elana nodded and vanished before Kate's eyes, and a large screen appeared on the wall, showing what Elana saw walking out of the submarine.

"_Kate, can you hear me?"_ Her voice sounded in the room.

"Yes." Kate looked up at the ceiling, unsure of why. It seemed like the right thing to do.

"_Okay, good. This is peculiar, isn't it?"_

"I don't believe there are words to explain this."

Elana walked herself and Kate quickly to Carson's office in the infirmary, and there he was, mulling over the latest reports on the compound now running through Rodney's and Kate's systems.

"Carson."

He looked up, "Kate, what brings you here?"

"First of all my name is Elana Trelio and I have a lot to tell you."

Carson's mouth dropped open.

"My husband is Garin Trelio, who has taken command of Rodney McKay's body. I do not approve of this at all and want to fix this." She took a deep breath and proceeded to tell him her story, but Kate had to take over, it was just too much for Elana to actually say.

---

Radek and Peter were still working, chatting using techno babble, until the text on the screen changed.

Peter exclaimed, "Ha! That's it!"

They started reading, and looked at each other in shock.

Radek broke the silence, "We'd better get Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard down here."

-

"_Major Sheppard, we have decrypted the computer, you need to see this. Have Dr. Weir come down also."_

John responded to Peter's radio call while he was just outside Elizabeth's office, he wanted to talk to her about the encounter with McKay he had in the hallway, "How bad is it?" He walked into her office.

"_Bad enough that Rodney's going to give us all quite a lashing when we get him back."_

She saw him walk in, "Major. What's going on?"

"Grodin and Zelenka broke into the computer in 13B, they say it's bad."

They moved out of her office and headed to the transporter, "How bad?"

John entered the coordinates, "Apparently McKay's not going to be too happy with us."

By the time they walked into 13B, Grodin and Zelenka had gotten through most of the text of Garin's computer, talking incessantly.

"Well?" Elizabeth asked since the two scientists had not even noticed that they walked in.

"Oh, yes, you're not going to like this." Peter said.

John was impatient, "Try us."

Radek responded, "Bottom line, Garin is a real person, Dr. Garin Trelio, an Ancient, and has been downloaded into Rodney's mind by this panel here, taking control of all his functions."

"I thought this place couldn't get any weirder." Major Sheppard knew something was wrong with McKay, but never thought about this.

Peter added, "It gets worse. Garin has also downloaded his wife, Elana, into a female member of this expedition."

Elizabeth looked a little in shock, "Excuse me?"

John had a sudden realization, "Heightmeyer."

She turned to him, "Of course, that would explain their behavior," and turned back to Peter and Radek, "Can you reverse it?"

Peter answered, "Yes, but we need to get them down here."

Elizabeth nodded to John, who turned to the side, activated his radio, and started gathering two three person teams, one to find Rodney which he would lead once they wrapped up in the lab and now had Bates leading it, the other to find Kate which he had Ford leading. He explained the situation quickly to them.

"_Elizabeth?"_

She fluttered her eyes and answered on the radio, "Go ahead, Carson."

"_I have an Elana Trelio who needs to speak with you, but the thing is she's in Kate's body-"_

"We know already. Is she compliant?"

"_They came to me with this revelation about Rodney and Garin."_

"Bring her, them, down to 13B. Major Sheppard, and Dr.'s Zelenka and Grodin are already here with me."

"_Aye. We'll be right there."_

Elizabeth let the others in on what had just transpired, "Carson's bringing Kate, who does indeed have Elana… in her mind."

"Alright then, one down, one to go." John went back to his radio orders, changing them so both teams would be looking for Rodney and Garin.

"Anything else you have to tell me?" She asked the other two men.

Peter stood and walked over to the cabinet, "We've also been working on getting in here. From what we've read about the process, Garin had to have used a mind-suppressing compound in order for a new consciousness to gain precedence over the original."

Elizabeth crossed her arms, "And that cabinet is where he's been keeping it."

"Yes."

"Get back to work then."

Radek continued on the computer while Peter stayed at the cabinet, prying off the keypad and playing with the wires behind it.

John turned back to the group, "Well, unless there's something else I should be aware of…"

"Go ahead." Elizabeth said just as Elana walked in, followed by Carson, the door closing behind them.

Elana held out her hand, "Dr. Weir, I'm Dr. Elana Trelio, I'm terribly sorry this has all happened."

She took it, "So am I."

John started to leave but Elana grabbed his arm, "No! Wait, you don't know the gravity of the situation."

He turned his head and took her hand off his arm, "And what is that?"

Elana sighed, not able to say the words, so Kate took over like she had up in Carson's office at one point, "Garin killed two Ancient Council members after they ordered him to discontinue his work on resurrecting Elana. You should consider him dangerous."

"Heightmeyer? Okay… this just got a whole lot weirder… hold on, you said he killed people?"

The door slid open and Garin was standing there. He took one look around at stared right at Elana, "My own wife has betrayed me," and took off down the hall, Major Sheppard chasing him, but made it to the transporter and closed the doors before John could touch him.

**TBC…**


	10. Beginnings of a Chase

**Chapter 10**_- Beginnings of a Chase_

Major Sheppard beat his hands against the transporter door, he had just watched his team member, chief scientist, and friend step in being controlled by a murderous Ancient. He swore at himself for letting this go on for days.

He activated his radio to the search teams and added two more three-person teams. Lt. Ford was still leading one, Sgt. Bates had his own, Sgt. Stackhouse another, and Markham headed the last with Teyla until Sheppard met up with them. He also had Smith coming down to 13B to stand guard as Zelenka and Grodin worked. If Garin decided to go back to the lab, he wanted someone there. After relaying the new information to the group he ended the conversation with, "Each member carries a Wraith Stunner, it is still McKay we're talking about here."

"_Yes, sir."_

"_Sir."_

"_Will do, Sir."_

He stopped in 13B one last time before meeting up with one of the teams. Carson was talking with Zelenka by the computer about the suppressant Garin made, Grodin was still by the cabinet, and Elizabeth and Kate/Elana were talking in the center of the room.

John announced, "He made it to the transporter."

"Did you see where he went?" Elizabeth asked, her expression hiding her worry.

John shook his head reluctantly, "No."

"Peter, get back up to the Control Room, use the city's scanners."

"Yes ma'am. Do you have this Radek?"

He looked up from the computer, "Go ahead," and went back to talking with Carson.

Peter quickly left as John addressed Kate/Elana, "Anything else you two have to tell me?" He felt extremely odd talking to two people in one body, not knowing which one was going to respond to him.

"My husband was one of our leading scientists, the last architect of Atlantis among other things. He knows every corner and will use his knowledge. Garin wants to live. He'll do anything to make that possible, even if he can't have me."

"What are you saying?"

"He'll leave the city."

John immediately keyed his radio to the teams, "Bates, take your team, guard the Gate and Control Balcony. Stackhouse, you have the Jumper Bay. He's going to try and run. Ford, you have the northern side of the city, we'll get the south."

"_Understood, sir."_

"_Got it, sir."_

"_Sounds like a plan, sir."_

Smith chose this exact moment to show up at the lab's door, a stunner crooked in his arm. "Reporting, sir."

John turned around, a little shocked the soldier was there already, "That was fast. Okay, you know what to do." He turned back to the people in the room, speaking sincerely, "We'll find him," and he quickly headed straight to the armory, he wasn't exactly walking around with weapons that morning.

After he left, Elana kept talking to Elizabeth, "I believe I could be of some assistance to Peter, I may not be as knowledgeable about the city as Garin, but I still know more than you all." She wasn't trying to be arrogant, and it didn't come off that way.

Elizabeth sensed the honesty in the Ancient's voice, "Yes, let's make our way."

---

Garin exited the transporter in the hallway of Rodney's quarters, quickly walking into it, and grabbed the pack Rodney took on missions. He stuffed some clothes and other supplies into it, including chocolate and power bars for Rodney's hypoglycemia, threw the radio headset on the ground, and left the room, leaving it a mess in his rush. It took all of a minute. Garin then proceeded back to the transporter, punching in a destination, and within moments he was out again. This time in a dark and deserted hallway.

He brought his hand to his temple and breathed deeply as he walked, starting to feel the effects of two minds fighting for control of the body. He stopped reading Rodney's thoughts, it took to much out of him now. Besides, he had to do two things at once, focus on keeping command and escape the city at all costs. If Elana didn't want to live, fine, he'd go on without her. He couldn't just surrender, not after everything that brought him to this point. He wasn't the type to give up on a goal, not when there was still hope of attaining it.

_Rodney stood in his world's Control Balcony, hands on the railing, looking down at the Gate. The recent success of taking control of his own arm for a brief moment had given him hope. He focused on the world around him, focusing on it disappearing._

_One orange couch vanished, then the other, and then the Gate itself. He kept willing the world away, and it continued to work, the walls literally melted away, revealing an empty whiteness all around him. The floor of the Gateroom dropped out, he watched it fall away and ultimately vanish in the vast emptiness._

_A smile pierced his lips, thankful that Garin was in such an emotional state that it let him assert this much control. He kept concentrating, and turned to face the area where he was. The consoles shimmered and faded away one by one until they were all gone._

_Rodney continued to will the hated recreated world away, until all that was left was him, the screen, and the vast whiteness. The blinding white world no longer carried a sense of creepiness to him, now it pursed with optimism. He was in control of it._

_The hard part would be actually taking control of his whole body, forcing Garin out into this reality, and keeping a grip on it. He knew the suppressant still coursed through his veins, giving Garin the upper hand, but after all, he did succeed once._

Garin stopped at a six-foot wide door and thought it open, but it wouldn't budge. He sighed and realized that of course the others locked this room when they left the city, they sealed his, why wouldn't they do the same to this one? It was most likely the case with the other three entrances also.

He set the pack down to free his hands, pried the panel off, revealing the flat, clear crystals beneath. It was a small obstacle, but an annoying one at that. He picked up the white pen-like instrument attached to a wire, and after touching a couple crystals and moving one, the door slid open.

Smiling at the small victory, Garin replaced the panel, slung the pack on his back, and walked into the small space, only as wide as the door itself, and there was an identical door five feet in front of him. The door behind him slid closed and the room lit up.

---

John ran into the armory to find Teyla and Markham armed with stunners and waiting, Markham handed him a Wraith stunner, "Ready to go, sir."

He slung on a vest and then took the stunner, resting it in the crook of his arm, "So, we actually had enough of these things huh?"

"We scrounged up a few, sir."

Teyla handed him a life-signs detector, "Ford's team is progressing as ordered. Nothing yet." Teyla said calmly.

Sheppard waved them through the door, "Let's move out."

"Should we not check Rodney's room to see if he made a stop in there?"

"Good idea Teyla, but we'll make it quick."

Needless to say, the sight of the three of them, and the other teams, walking through the inhabited parts of the city, carrying Wraith Stunners, raised some eyebrows from the other expedition members who had no idea what was really happening. For all they knew, Sheppard and the rest were just moving the Stunners to a new storage facility or something, but the looks on their faces gave away that there was something else going on.

They reached McKay's quarters in record time, and upon entering, they were startled by the room's appearance.

Markham was the first to comment, "Looks like a hurricane has been through here." He stooped and picked up the headset, showing it to the other two.

"And its name is Garin." John's voice reeked of loathing for the man and he went out the door, followed by the other two.

As they headed into the emptier parts of the city, they heard Weir's voice over the communications system informing the others of the situation. John noticed she left quite a bit out, wisely, so as not to cause a panic. That was the last thing they needed.

---

Elizabeth hurriedly yet gracefully walked to where Peter was working in the Control Balcony, followed by Kate/Elana who had a look of worry and nervousness on her face. They passed Sgt. Bates on the way who gave them a nod. The other two members of his search team were down on Gate level by the doors.

Peter Grodin saw them walk up, "Haven't found him yet."

"Keep scanning, and meanwhile put me on city-wide."

He pressed a couple of buttons on the communication console, "Good to go."

Elizabeth nodded and started talking on the system, "This is Dr. Weir, we have a situation. Dr. McKay has been, for lack of a better word, compromised. A separate person is in control of his body and actions. Do not engage him in any way, but report sightings to the Control Room. Weir out." She nodded to Peter who promptly turned the system off.

Elana asked Peter, "Where exactly have you scanned for him?"

Unsure of who exactly just asked him, he pointed to the map on secondary screen on the wall, "I've done a detailed scan of the explored parts of the city and a preliminary of the unexplored."

Elizabeth crossed her arms deep in thought, "You couldn't find him anywhere?" Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, now Garin seemed to have completely disappeared.

"No ma'am. It's the strangest thing, as if he vanished."

Not noticing Kate/Elana moving to a console a few feet away, Elizabeth opened a channel to the search teams, including Major Sheppard, on her headset, "We have been unable to locate Rodney in the city."

"_How can that be?"_ John paused a moment before continuing, _"Stackhouse, any activity in the bay?"_

"_No, been as quiet as a church, sir."_

Elizabeth listened to the chatter, "Keep up the search."

---

Garin was standing in the small room and a computerized voice echoed in his head.

"_Access code"_

He responded automatically, aiming his thoughts at the computer_, "Dr. Garin Trelio, Beta-Gamma-2-1-0-7-3-Alpha"_

"_Access granted."_

The door slid open, being a leading scientist among the Ancients had its benefits, one being access to anywhere in the city. Garin walked into the hallway as the door closed behind him. It was one of four twenty- foot long halls, surrounding an inner lab chamber. Directly in front of him was another six-foot wide door leading to the chamber, but he wasn't going in there.

He turned right, passing up a few doors on the inner side of the hallway, until he came to the last one. He thought it open and eyed the room thinking of course it wasn't exactly the same as he last set eyes upon it, but with any luck, some things would still be the same.

The back wall was all glass and looked down upon the inner chamber. The room itself had a desk, chair, cabinets, all the standard office items. Garin went directly to the desk, sat down, and felt under the lip for a trigger.

He found and activated it, when he did a secret drawer in the desk slip open next to him. He peered in and saw what he was looking for, a life-signs detector, and three powerful hand weapons that his brother-in-law kept there just in case.

Taking one out, he looked at it. It was larger than the standard military issue 9mm, but not by much. It was also smoother, made up a white metal that shined different colors under light, and didn't fire bullets. The front was flat, not circular like a barrel, so as the wave it fired could spread horizontally, if that was desired. The weapon was controlled by thoughts, and so were the settings. The default was a stun mode, but it could also kill.

---

Elana was busy at the console and looking up at the screen at a three-dimensional screen of the submarine bay, she was shaking her head.

Peter walked over, having just noticed the woman over there, and curiously asked who he assumed was Elana since Kate wouldn't be off by herself working a console, "What are you doing?"

Elana didn't turn her head, "Investigating my intuition."

Now Elizabeth asked her, "Which would be what?" Talking to two people in one body didn't phase her anymore, back at the SGC she had some encounters with Tok'ra. Though it was easier to know who was talking with a Tok'ra, at least the voice changed.

"I was checking to see if the Submarine Bay doors and ports have been opened, but they haven't.'

Elizabeth blinked, "We have a Submarine Bay?"

"You can actually detect if the ports have been opened?" Peter's shocked expression matched the Expedition leader's.

She answered both questions in a row, "Oh right, I apologize, you didn't know that. It's a security measure." Elana brought up another image, this time of a square, multi-layered laboratory complex. "Since the Jumper and Submarine Bays have seen no activity, I can only assume Garin is where no scans can penetrate." She pointed, "Here, in the weapon research complex."

Peter didn't ask a question as much as he stated an observation, "The complex is shielded to prevent an accident harming the rest of the city, which inadvertently also blocks the sensors."

Elana nodded, "Precisely. Every wall in the complex is made from an ore that will withstand explosions, and when a test was in progress, they would activate the actual shield as a precaution." She pulled up a screen that showed the west entrance door, stats came up showing the last activation a few minutes earlier by Garin's access code. "That's not good."

Peter questioned, "What would he want from the complex?"

Kate took over, "Elana's brother was a weapons specialist, and also a bit cautious. He kept a hidden compartment in his office with three stun type hand weapons and a life-signs detector."

"Is he still there?" Elizabeth hoped she could tell.

Kate bit her lip and looked at the stats, "The entrance door has only been opened once today. So yes."

Elizabeth opened a channel to the search teams, "We found him in an unexplored part of the city, in a weapons research complex. There is a high possibility he is armed." She ended with directions to the complex and a quick layout that Elana had brought up on the screen.

Kate/Elana got tired of communicating to the search teams through other people, and put on the headset they had been carrying around since the library.

---

"Understood." Major Sheppard, Markham, and Teyla walked down the empty hall they were presently searching and entered the transporter. When it opened they were at the corner of the west hallway and the south hallway. Markham moved to the right and approached the south hall entrance, keeping the stunner ready. Sheppard and Teyla started moving down the west hall.

They could see Ford and his team at the other end of the south hall, moving in entirety up the east hall since Markham had the south entrance covered.

John checking the detector, and since only his and Ford's teams were showing, he assumed Garin was still being shielded by the complex, and slid it back in his pocket.

He and Teyla moved quietly down the hall, and Teyla stopped at the west entrance, it sliding open, courtesy of Elana in the Control Balcony. They started moving in when out of the corner of his eye, John saw Garin at the other end of the hallway, walking in another transporter.

"Garin!" John fired a blast from the stunner, but it hit the transporter doors as they closed.

He broke the radio silence using a channel to the Control Balcony and the search teams, "Grodin, tell me where he's going."

-

Grodin was busily working on the scanner, "He just exited a few floors beneath you."

Elana's eyes widened when she looked on the map and saw where he was heading, "This is really not good." She talked on the channel, "Major, get down there right away. He's heading to the auxiliary Gate and Control Room."

"_Auxiliary? This gets better and better."_

---

Garin walked up to a door, and a computerized voice sounded in his head again,

"_Access code"_

"_Dr. Garin Trelio, Beta-Gamma-2-1-0-7-3-Alpha"_

"_Access granted."_

The door slid open and he strolled into the room, thinking the door locked behind him. It wasn't a miniature copy of the Gate/Control Balcony area, this had no Balcony or fancy stairs, only a dozen or so consoles, a rather Gate-deprived floor area, and a Jumper sitting in the corner. After a closer look, however, one would notice a circular object resting in the floor.

He looked down at his right hand as he headed over to the console he needed to use. His hand was shaking again, but this time it was progressing through his right side.

He shouted, "Damn it, McKay, I don't have time for this!" Garin approached the console and started working feverishly.

---

Elizabeth was standing with her arms clasped behind her back, looking at the map displayed by the scanner on the large screen when it shut off and went black. She turned immediately to Peter, "What happened!"

He was pressing buttons on the console, trying to bring it up again. He then moved to the other consoles, the other scientists doing the same to the others. No one could get anything to work.

"It seems as if we lost all power, but that doesn't make any sense." He checked the DHD, "The only system still online is the Gate shield."

Elana quietly said, "Garin is jamming the systems from the auxiliary controls. I should have thought of this earlier…" She closed her eyes and Kate took over, "The Ancients added a backup Gate and command center during the war with the Wraith in case this room was compromised. Access to the backup was limited, as the weapons research complex, the Gate laid in the ground so as not to interfere with this one, but can be raised in less than a minute, and the controls given the ability to block out these."

John's voice sounded in their headsets_, "We're locked out, get me in now!"_

Peter responded, "I can't, Garin has jammed all our systems up here."

"_Then I'll just blow it open."_

"Understood Major." Elizabeth turned to Peter, "We can't dial out to stop him from activating the second Gate?

He was hastily working on bringing the systems back, getting nowhere, "Correct."

-

By now, both Sheppard's team and Ford's team had made it to the door. John pulled out a block of C-4 from his vest, stuck in on the door next to where the jam was, and set the trigger. Everyone retreated around the corner.

Ford questioned, "Are you sure that's going to work, sir?"

"As Rodney once said, 'Atlantis is remarkably fragile.'" He detonated the explosive, blowing the door away.

**TBC…**


	11. Lost

**Chapter 11**_- Lost_

Garin was working at the console, and with a push of a button, the Stargate that was laid in the floor began to rise. The base of the Gate was embedded in a mechanism that tilted the Gate up and held it in place. Rodney continued to fight with all his willpower against him. It was getting fairly easy, Garin was having a difficult time keeping command over his emotions. He got control of his voice.

"You are really pissing me off Garin!"

Garin fought back, "I'm pissing _you_ off? You're the one making this difficult!" He pressed a few last instructions into the console, using his left hand since Rodney had effectively rendered the right useless to him.

"That would be my plan you worthless son of a bitch."

Garin picked up the pack and stepped with his left foot towards the Jumper, but was unable to move his right leg. "Let go of the leg McKay! You're calling _me_ worthless? _Me?_ Without me, there wouldn't have been a city for you and your infantile race to come to!" He walked toward the Jumper dragging the leg. The Jumper was angled towards the Gate and the hatch would open with just enough room so as not to hit the far wall. The Stargate was now fully locked in place.

"Infantile! Granted we're not as technology advanced as you, but by no definition of the word are we infantile! We've been using your technologies without too many problems."

"Personal shield ring a bell? Or the 'Jumper in the Gate' incident?" Garin was now by the Jumper, about to open the hatch when Rodney took control for a second and slammed him against the wall.

Garin recovered, "Oww! Stop beating yourself up McKay!" There was an explosion by the door as the C-4 detonated, the door was left in shambles. "Damn it, I thought I deactivated those sensors before they knew I was here!" He pulled the hand weapon from where he put it in the waistband of his military blue pants.

"Ha! The cavalry, you are so not leaving the city!"

"Watch me." The hatch began to open and he fired at the hole in the door.

Major Sheppard peered through the hole created by the explosion and saw Garin aiming a weapon in his direction. He pulled back just as shockwave passed him. "What the hell is that?" Another wave came through the hole, dissipating on the wall if the hallway.

Teyla was beside him, "I have never seen that type of weapon before." Markham was behind Teyla and Ford and his team were on the other side of the door.

The firing stopped and John stepped in through the new door he made just in time to see a glimpse of Garin moving rather oddly into a Jumper. He also noticed a Stargate standing in the middle of the room.

He got off a blast from the stunner as soon as he saw Garin, but it flew past as he fully stepped in. John waved the rest of the teams on as he ran towards the Jumper yelling, "Garin!" The hatch started to close.

Ford and his team spread out in room while Teyla followed John towards the Jumper's hatch.

"Don't do this!" John made it to the hatch just to see through the final crack Garin struggling through the blast doors into the front of the Jumper.

Garin sat down in the pilot's seat still bickering with Rodney as he powered up the systems.

"How are going to fly this with one arm, hmm? Hmm? You're losing it _Doctor_, admit it!" Rodney's voice betrayed his nervousness as it cracked.

"Your reassertion of certain bodily functions will be temporary, _Doctor_ McKay. Quite honestly, this alternating control of the voice is getting tiring." Garin turned towards the dialing device so he could use the left arm that he still had complete control of. He started punching in coordinates.

Rodney's voice was shaky, "What… where are you going?"

"I haven't decided the final destination as of yet." He entered the final symbol, and the wormhole established.

"You don't even… this is crazy!" Rodney took a hold of his right side, braced his right arm on the dialing console, and stood on his leg in an attempt to leave the Jumper.

"Oh no you don't." Garin plopped back down in the seat and the Jumper lifted off the ground.

Major Sheppard watched as the Gate activated and called back to Aiden who was now by the consoles, "Ford!"

"The Jumper's controlling it, sir."

John ran to the front of the Jumper and looked inside to see him sit down in the pilot's seat, the ship lifting off the ground. "Come on, Rodney! Stop this!" He could have sworn he heard him yell, "I'm trying!" and saw him struggling with Garin for control. He yelled back, "Well, try harder!"

The Jumper surged forward, forcing John to dive to the ground as it passed over him and swerved through the Gate.

It seemed like forever that the group stared at this secondary Gate in disbelief. They only snapped out of it when their radios activated with Elizabeth's voice, _"What's going on down there?"_

John stood up off the ground, "He made it through the Gate in a Jumper."

Her voice was tense, _"Where did it come from?"_

"It looks as if it was here already."

"_Any idea where he went?"_

"He dialed from the Jumper."

"_I see."_ He could hear the defeat in her voice as she continued,_ "I'm sending teams down to disable the Gate and the other auxiliary systems. There's a meeting in a few minutes."_

John could sense the worry behind her calm voice, "I'll be there."

---

The Jumper emerged from the event horizon and started to soar up into the atmosphere due to the fighting over the controls, both mental and hand held, of the ship by Rodney and Garin. The Puddle Jumper was technically confused about whom to take orders from. Soon enough, they were in the highest levels of the atmosphere, almost in orbit.

Rodney hissed, "Let go Garin."

"No."

Garin suddenly pushed the control his left hand was gripped on to forward, and the Jumper took a sharp nosedive straight down. The dry, somewhat sandy ground of the planet kept getting closer and closer.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Garin calmly stated, "Going into the atmosphere."

"Where'd you learn piloting skills, 'Disasters Waiting to Happen 101?' Ease up!" Rodney used his control to change the angle of descent to a nicer, more pleasant angle.

"I was taught by our military trainers. Didn't take too well."

"Obviously!"

They were now in the lower atmosphere and Garin instructed the Jumper to make a slight turn to the left. But Rodney had other ideas, he made the ship swing back in the direction of the Stargate.

"Hey, McKay, wrong way." Garin turned the Jumper around.

"Wrong way to _what_?" Rodney snipped as he spun the Jumper back.

"To where I want to go."

"Well, I want to go back to Atlantis and get you out of my head!"

Garin once again turned the ship around, "We can't all have what we want."

"But I can." Rodney continued to fight with Garin, this time even more violently, causing the Jumper to sway back and forth, becoming highly unstable.

Garin struggled to stay in the pilot's seat, "If you do not stop McKay, you will crash this ship!"

"Why don't _you_ stop? Hmm!"

But neither did as the Jumper neared a cluster of old ruins at the top of a low hill and started spinning slowly, throwing them around the forefront of the ship, into the console, roughly slamming a shoulder against the wall, and then the Jumper spun more rapidly, the force pinning them to the ceiling.

It was all he could do to hang on.

The Jumper's angle of descent increased, and it spun into a column of the ruins, busting right through it. The front of the ship skidded into the ground just beyond the ruins and flipped over the top of the hill, sending Rodney bouncing around the hard edges of the Jumper, it rolled twice before coming to a stop at the base.

Xxx

Elizabeth looked around at the group assembled in the briefing room. If she thought they looked worried at the last mass meeting discussing Rodney a couple days earlier pending his release back to work, then they were outright distraught now. Radek and Peter had just sat down; John, Carson, Aiden, Teyla, and Kate/Elana were seated around her talking quietly to each other. They were waiting for the head of security to walk in, which he did momentarily.

"Ma'am, Major." Bates took a seat.

"Sergeant." John responded.

"Let's get started." Elizabeth folded her hands on the table, "Peter, how are the systems functioning?"

"All Control Room systems are back online, and the second Gate has been lowered back into the floor. In that aspect, everything is back to the way it was."

"Good." She continued, "We have a serious situation here. Rodney is somewhere on another planet, with a Jumper, and not in control of his actions. Finding him is our first priority."

"I suggest we change all security codes. If he gets taken by the Wraith, it would leave us vulnerable."

John stood up at Bates suggestion, "Rodney would never give us away!"

Elana also stood, "Neither would Garin, he would die before he would let Wraith take the city!"

"Sit down Major, Doctor." They both did at Elizabeth's order, glaring at Bates.

He firmly defended his position, "That one body contains more information about this city then we can imagine. We need to take some sort of extra precautions."

"That is a perfectly viable suggestion and I agree we need to further instigate security measures. Now let's move on to how we are going to find him."

Aiden brought up, "Couldn't he be anywhere by now? There's hundreds, thousands of Gates he could have went to."

"Luckily we have someone who knows Garin Trelio." Elizabeth turned towards her, "Elana?"

"I could suggest a few planets. At least it would be a start."

After taking a deep breath, John commented on the behavior he witnessed, "I saw Rodney in that Jumper, it seemed he was fighting with him. Garin doesn't have full control anymore."

"That's good news." Elizabeth observed.

"Actually, no. A constant struggle over control would be very stressful. Much unlike the mutual use Kate and Elana have. He would be quite unstable." Radek didn't like being the bearer of bad news, but it was necessary.

Teyla's usually calm voice was now betraying her concern, "He wouldn't be able to fly a Jumper in such a state."

Aiden asked, "What would happen if this struggle continues?"

Peter replied, "We cannot say for certain, but it wouldn't be good."

"All the more reason to get him back here sooner and remove Garin. From what I understand, it wouldn't take more than a few seconds."

Carson added to the news, "I'm afraid it's not that simple Elizabeth. The suppressant Garin used also acts like a binder, keeping the downloaded consciousness in the person's mind. I have to make a counter agent to flush it out of his system, but we found the specifications in his computer."

John raised his eyebrow at the new piece of information, "Well, how long will that take?"

"A few hours to make and a few more for it to work."

"Then I suggest we get started. Major, you and your team will start immediately searching the planets Elana provides the addresses for." Elizabeth stood, signaling the end of the meeting. "Let's get back our Chief Scientist."

Xxx xxx

Rodney's eyes fluttered slightly open to the view of a smooth surface. He grunted with pain as he felt it with his right hand, the surface was covered in something wet and lukewarm. Lifting his head, he looked at his fingertips and saw that the liquid was red.

He sighed, "Perfect," and braced himself with his right arm, then swung his left gently so his hand was resting flat and pushed up. But when he did he let out a cry of pain and slumped back on his face. His left arm was broken.

He more carefully rolled over to his back, feeling an immense pain throughout his lower back, his chest, his head, his arm… pretty much everywhere. Rodney tried to remember what had just happened_… the Jumper was spinning… why was it spinning? Right, fighting with Garin. Where is he? Oh in my head… I have control…what a great fucking time to get it…wonder if he's gone…_

He moved his right hand the back of his head and felt the blood matted hair, he couldn't tell if it was coming from a head wound, or it was just because he was laying in a puddle of his own blood.

Rodney sat up slowly and immediately regretted it, his head becoming increasingly dizzy, and his side aching terribly, but he had to figure out where he was. He looked straight ahead through smoke from the short circuits and only saw the window, so he looked up and saw the four chairs and the console on the ceiling. Dim light was streaming in from the window, penetrating the smoke.

_Why are they on the ceiling? … no I'm on the ceiling… upside down…_

He turned his head a little and looked at the rest of the space. Ancient equipment had been wrenched out of their storage places and was now resting on the ceiling of the Jumper with him.

He closed his eyes at the sudden onslaught of dizziness, attempting to make it disappear. He was so tired, he just wanted to keep his eyes closed and sleep, but then he remembered the blood, he had to find out where it was coming from.

He slowly pawed at his shirt and with his right hand lifted it up.

"Oh god…" There was a good size gash in his left side that was bleeding moderately. He muttered, "How'd I get that?" He looked up at was actually the floor of the Jumper to look for a suspect, his eyes falling on a sharp corner.

"Great…"

He kept probing his body, having lifted his shirt up and gripping it with his teeth, gently holding his left hand over the gash. All the blood on the floor couldn't have been coming from only from that, though his hand was now covered in it.

He pushed on his chest and let out a muffled scream. Deciding not to do that again because he had to have broken ribs or something, he moved his attention to his legs. He leaned forward and hissed, that wasn't too good for his side wound, it sent a sharp pain through his side, and it also started another dizzy spell. After taking a moment, he looked down at his leg and could see that his right pant leg was soaked with blood and tried to move it, which he did successfully. But it hurt his calf muscle too much, the muscle started to throb, so he laid it back on the ground. He pried at the material with his right hand and found a long tear on the side of his lower leg. The other blood was definitely pouring out from there.

He had no idea how long he was out on the ceiling of the Jumper for, or exactly how much blood had leaked from his body, but he knew he had to get out of there. No one would know where he was, so it was up to him.

He thought he should find the med kit first to bandage what he could. There was one problem, this Jumper was in the auxiliary room, not the bay, so it wasn't as if Carson could have put one in. Then he remembered Garin had grabbed his mission pack, which of course had to be in the back section of the Jumper, and he was in the front. He mentally braced himself and reached out for the wall with his good arm. He found it, firmly placed his hand on it, and carefully stood on his left leg.

He was facing the front of the Jumper, so he had to turn around. He did feebly, hopping on his good leg, dragging the right. Thankfully, he was near the doorway to the back of the Jumper and he hobbled through, still clutching his side wound.

Rodney spied the pack thrown against the left side and walked over to it. He sunk to the ground, leaning against the wall, the bench seats above him. After wiping his brow, he opened the front pocket and pulled out a large sterile cloth bandage that he placed over the side gash carefully, hissing as he applied pressure. He had difficulty wrapping tape around it to keep it in place, but got it done.

He wondered if he did it right, if he was even thinking clearly, but he moved on to his leg. He applied another bandage, weaving it through the tear in his pants directly on the wound, and wrapped that as tight as he could as well.

Rodney yawned wearily, he was just so tired, and he hurt so much. All he could do was think about the pain. He grabbed the morphine bottle from the pack, but hastily put it back, a morphine haze wouldn't do, he needed to be alert, so he opted for some over-the-counter pills instead. He then took out a roll of gauze and unrolled some, trying to make an imitation sling for his arm, but gave up. He'd do without it. Out of frustration, he threw his pack against the other wall, and it fell with a thud in the corner.

He looked at the bandage on the side wound which was already completely red and sighed.

Plan… he needed a plan. The Jumper was of no use so he had to get to the Gate, it had to be around there somewhere and he vaguely recalled flying over a DHD, so dialing wouldn't be a problem. Then he remembered about the GDO, he looked at his wrist, nope not there. Damn it. Even if he could reach the Gate there was no way to…

He saw his mission pack over in the corner by the rear hatch. Rodney stood up the same way as the time before and slowly made his way over, cursing himself for being so stupid as to throw it over, fighting the swirling dizziness he faced when he did. He picked it up and opened the main section, pulling all the contents out slowly. There were clothes Garin stuffed in there, along with chocolate and power bars, and a canteen of water. Good, but not what he was looking for. He turned the bag over and the GDO fell out.

Rodney sighed of relief as his head continued to pound and sunk to the floor, leaning against the wall. He opened the canteen and took a long swig. He was panting, the past few minutes had exerted him more than he would admit, and his head was still pounding. He decided to take a break before he made the trek to the Gate, eat something. He grabbed a chocolate bar with his right hand and used his teeth to tear it open. He yawned again, and after taking a few bites, closed his eyes.

He was just so tired, he knew he most likely had a concussion so he shouldn't sleep, but he would just rest his eyes for a little while and block out the pain.

Before long, he wasn't conscious anymore.

**TBC…**


	12. Darkness of the Night

**Chapter 12**_- Darkness of the Night_

John walked down the hall completely frustrated and in his mission gear. Everyone who saw him stayed well out his way, he looked as if he would punch someone if they talked to him. The fading black eye didn't help much either. He opened the door to his quarters and whipped his vest in the corner. It hit the wall with a deafening thud and dropped on the floor.

He, Ford, and Teyla had spent the whole day going from planet to planet, searching for signs of Rodney McKay. They found nothing. It was about nine o'clock, and Elizabeth suggested they get some rest. John sat on the edge of his bed and scoffed at the idea of sleeping. Like he could sleep with McKay out who-knows-where. He'd rather be working through the night.

He ran his hands through his hair, messing it up more than usual and he didn't care. He kept thinking that he should have done something earlier about Rodney directly, not stay behind the scenes.

To avoid the guilt trip he was starting to venture on, he got up and left his quarters. The halls were now pretty much clear and when he approached his destination, he heard gunshots. Not that it was unusual being as he was five feet from the practice range, it was just that it was strange this time of night.

The door slid open and he saw Lt. Ford firing at some targets. He lowered the 9mm as he looked at where he hit them and John took that moment's opportunity to say something, "Hey Lieutenant. You're here sort of late."

Aiden spun his head around, "I'd thought I would get off a couple of rounds, sir."

"Me too." John went over to the rack and also picked up a 9mm.

"How are you holding up, sir?"

"Let's put it this way, if Garin wasn't in Rodney's head, I'd put a bullet in it." The clip clicked as John loaded the weapon.

"The Ancients didn't have a problem with that either, sir."

John stepped to the spot next to Aiden and fired off three shots, one after the other, all hitting around the center of the target, "He did kill two of their own."

After a moment Aiden said, without smiling, "Hey I got an idea, how about we download Garin into a Wraith's head, and then shoot him." Aiden fired a shot into the target's forehead.

John saw where the shot hit the target, "Ford, sometimes you scare me." Aiden could fire any weapon with deadpan accuracy; you wouldn't want to be in his way when he got serious.

"I'll pretend that was a compliment, sir." He flashed one of his boyish smiles, but John saw the weariness under it. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead." With those two small words, they settled into more of a two worried men conversation, than a CO and 2IC conversation.

"I know I'm not close to McKay, but I still want him back as much as you do. The man has a knack for saving our military hides as much as we save the scientist contingent. I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him, my brain would have exploded because of that nanovirus." He scratched his head with his left hand, the right clutching the weapon.

"He has saved pretty much everyone a time or two. He's out there somewhere. We will find him and have our old annoying, snarky scientist back in no time."

"As much as his personality can get to someone, it wouldn't be the same around here without him."

John fired another quick shot, "Can you imagine a complaint free mission? It would be…weird."

"Not to mention freaky. I'm so used to it now, sir."

"He is the sort that grows on you."

There was another moment of silence that Aiden broke, "How many planets did we go to today?"

"Well, there was the water planet, the desert planet, the one with the blue sand. Oh and there was one with a purple sky and red grass."

Aiden set down the 9mm, "Wasn't there one that was radioactive, sir?"

"Oh yea, forgot about that one." John fired another shot at the target.

"It is all a blur."

"There was a whole solar system. The Gate that was floating in orbit."

"The system whose sun burnt out a couple thousand years ago?"

"That would be the one. They all changed since Elana last saw them." John also set down his 9mm, he had got some of his frustration out at least. He then decided to go back to his room.

---

Radek looked over at Carson who was standing at the counter in Garin Trelio's lab as he yawned so wide a fist would fit in it. The trio had been in the lab the whole day and was starting to feel as if they lived there, but it was something that they wouldn't complain about. When, not if, the Major and his team found Rodney, they wanted to be ready to extract Garin. Most of the other scientists had been busy all day drooling in the Submarine Bay and the Weapons Research Complex. Unfortunately, the Ancients all but cleared out the complex before they left.

He asked him, "How much longer until you are finished with the counteragent?"

"I just have to quickly combine these two mixtures and let them set together in the cold cabinet."

Peter was sitting at the computer with Radek, "Good thing we got that open so you could test the actual suppressant he used."

"Aye. Finding that beaker with some of that left saved me a step." He poured a clear mixture from one beaker into another beaker with a pale green solution.

Peter continued, "Then it shouldn't take long to test with the suppressant."

Carson opened the small cabinet and put the beaker in, next to the one Garin had left some clear suppressant in, "Correct, once they interact, we should see immediate results."

"And if we do not?" Radek looked up.

"Then I'll keep trying until we do." Carson closed the cabinet and looked at the others, "Have you two figured out exactly how that contraption works?"

Radek nodded and pushed up his glasses, "Yes, you see first of all the program computes the necessary -"

Carson stopped him, "The basics please."

"Of course. When a consciousness is copied, it is tagged with an identifying code which enables the computer to recognize it. We can instruct it to remove a consciousness if it has such a tag. Apparently, Garin wasn't concerned about an original one at all."

Peter added, "It looks as if a copy was to be downloaded into a clone engineered without a mind. But he developed a suppressant when he couldn't clone Elana's body."

"So we don't have to worry about that thing harming Rodney? That is the best news we've had all day."

Peter shrugged slightly, "The only thing it could do now is make a copy of him."

"Lord, don't do that!" Carson immediately responded, "One's all we can handle."

That put small, weary smiles on their lips. They didn't want two of him roaming the city, just the one would do.

---

Elizabeth Weir was standing on her favorite balcony looking at the slow crash of the waves on the city edges below. The cool breeze gently blew her hair back and the stars were brightly shining. It was a beautiful night at the end of a challenging day, and she wanted it to chase away the sadness from her mind. The silence didn't coincide with the hectic past hours. She became suddenly aware of another presence when Teyla walked up beside her. "Dr. Weir."

"Teyla, I thought I told you all to rest."

"I am unable to rest tonight. You should take your own advice though." She knew Elizabeth needed sleep.

"I'm restless too." She paused, "The whole of the city was buzzing about the situation today."

"In the time I was not out with the team searching, I heard a few things myself. There seems to be a general air of concern."

Elizabeth nodded, "Most people have realized he is needed here." She changed the subject, not wanting to dote any longer on the situation that made her come out to get some air, "We haven't had the chance to speak much recently, how are your people doing? Still good I hope?"

Teyla knew Elizabeth purposely steered the conversation in a new direction, but didn't mind, the day had took a quiet toll on her heart as well, "Yes. They have settled back into our usual ways."

"Thought of a name for the mainland yet? We can't keep calling it 'the mainland' for eternity."

"We're still hoping the name the Ancestors had for it will be found."

"I wonder what they called it."

"I'm sure it will be fitting." Teyla looked down at the water, "The ocean most likely has a name as well."

"True. I'm sure the names are beautiful." Elizabeth lightly crossed her arms and sighed.

Teyla rubbed her own because of a sudden chill in the air and noticed how Elizabeth did the same, "The night's cold, let's go inside."

"Give me a moment." She took one last look at the sea before following Teyla in.

---

Kate opened her eyes to where Elana had retreated to in her mind. It had worried her that Elana had been so quiet for the past couple of hours. The space was packed with plants of all shapes and sizes, colors, textures. Some had red stems and green flowers; some were more like tress and were ten feet tall. Tables were laden with the smaller plants where as the larger potted ones sat on the floor.

Elana was sitting on a bench against the wall that led to a backroom, her head against the wall, and her knees up to her chest. She saw Kate standing a few feet from her in the middle of the greenhouse. "I come here when I need time alone."

"It's beautiful. If you want me to go…"

"No, its fine." She sighed, "It has been one very long day, and I let him slip away."

Kate sat down next to her Ancient counterpart, "You did everything you could."

"Not fast enough. I should have been able to stop him."

"You've been through a lot today, you did your best."

"Yes, what an eventful day. I find out my husband killed two of our most respected Council Members, make friends with the woman who I've invaded the mind of, and instructed Major Sheppard, Lt. Ford, and Teyla on an almost hopeless chase."

Kate reassured her, "They will find him."

"But in what state? I feel completely guilty for this whole situation."

"Some of the blame can also be placed on me. I let myself be fooled."

"But a choice I made thousands of years ago has affected your people so much. Rodney is out there somewhere with my mentally unstable husband in his mind, you're stuck with me. I know a traumatic situation can change people, I've seen it, but I never thought Garin would be one of those people. We've been through so much together."

Kate took Elana's hand for a moment, "That is what makes our field so difficult. The inner workings of a mind are extremely complex."

"That is an understatement. I was just thinking that for me, a week ago, everything was fine. Good even. At least as good as it could be in a war. Garin was busy with his research, I had a full roster of clients that needed my help, and we were in love. Then I just had to go to Anfalas to see a patient that was, honestly, not doing so well."

"You were trying to do a good thing. I haven't exactly stayed in my office throughout my career."

"Go anywhere dangerous?" Elana had respected Kate's privacy, not delving into her mind unless it was completely necessary, and when it was, it was nothing personal.

"Excluding here, yes. I volunteered for a few months in my country's medical core overseas. Soldiers take an astounding amount of mental abuse without realizing it. I could never do what they do."

"You got this job due to your experience with the military, that makes sense. Elizabeth wouldn't pick out someone who she didn't know could handle these situations."

"Even with that, most of these situations were never covered when I went to school. For example, consoling someone in your own mind who lived thousands of years ago."

They laughed slightly, "My professors never covered that either."

Kate smiled, "I can imagine my one professor's face if I told him about this. He was one of those men who always thought they were right and better than everyone, though they weren't. He would never believe this. If nothing, I learned how to hold my tongue in that class."

"I have had some incorrigible teachers myself."

Kate had been thinking the past few hours. It was an extraordinary situation for her, but Elana had made it as easy as it could be. She had shown Kate all that had happened since she was downloaded into her mind. "After this is all over, you don't have to… go. We could learn a lot from you."

Elana shook her head, "I couldn't. It wouldn't exactly be fair to you."

"It's been done before. There's a race called the Tok'ra that in one body there's a human host and a symbiote who share the body equally."

"I'm not a symbiote, I am actually in your mind. Who knows what this could do to your brain after a prolonged period of time, even without us fighting for control. I can't do that to you."

"Well, you don't have to decide now."

"Alright. I will think about it.

Kate nodded, "Good."

There were a few moments of silence before Elana spoke again, "One of the times I came here was when our son died."

The admittance startled Kate a little, "That must have been terrible, I'm sorry."

Elana rubbed her head, "Don't worry about it. To me, it was nine years ago. I must have thought about him because I'm missing him, and missing the husband I knew."

"What was his name?"

"Falas. He was only a boy of seven when they took him."

"The Wraith? That is… horrible."

Elana nodded, "Horrible doesn't describe the Wraith, I'm not sure there are words to describe them. How can they take someone that young and innocent, he was just playing with his friends in the village-" She paused, and her eyes lit up, "That's it, I know where he is!"

Kate looked at her, "What, you know where Garin went?'

Elana stood up, "Yes, now come on, we have to find the Major."

Xxx xxx

A small group watched as the Jumper went through the Gate on its way to M8X-468. It was the planet the team had visited the second day Rodney had been acting strangely, where they had brought cases of crystals back from. Peter had left Garin's lab, Carson and Radek were still there busily preparing if Rodney was found. He was working in the Control Room. Elizabeth was leaned over the railing, gripping it with both hands, when a figure came up next to her.

She looked over, "Elana, does this planet hold a special meaning for Garin to go there?"

"We had a vacation home there once. When we built it, the planet had been a safe and uninhabited. After a short time, a small group of people settled a village, wanting to escape the constant threat of attacks in the cities."

"The Wraith discovered them and began culling."

"Yes. At that time our son was playing with his friends. We shut the house up and permanently moved here."

Elizabeth didn't have to ask what had happened to their son, the underlying look on her face spoke volumes about her sadness. "If he did go there, they will find him."

"I hope so. Then this can get settled, and you all can get back to the somewhat normal around here." Elana smiled slightly.

"Well, surprisingly, this is somewhat normal for us."

Elana looked over at the human leader of Atlantis and admired her for pulling her people through the tough times in this galaxy.

---

The Jumper flew out of the Gate and into the complete darkness of the planet. John was flying as usual, Aiden next to him, and Teyla sitting behind right behind Aiden. All three pairs of eyes were searching the blackness until John turned on the headlights and started using the Jumper's scanners.

Ford questioned, "Anything, sir?"

John stated, "Not yet."

They had been through this routine so many times earlier it came automatically now. Scan for power readings, all sorts of other readings, keep an eye out on the ground for any signs of disturbances…

The Jumper kept flying very low over the dry terrain, the light penetrating the black to reach the ground, revealing absolutely nothing. They had been there a few days earlier, McKay included but was really Garin at the time, and everything seemed the same.

But, they weren't done looking yet. The ship approached the ruins of the house, which were still at the top of the hill, but noticing missing something.

Teyla peered out, "Didn't that have a column that was still standing?"

"Yes it did. Let's take a closer look." John flew the Jumper up slightly to reach over the hill, and the area behind the ruins came into view. It looked as if something had torn the ground away.

The trio didn't say anything as they thought about what would be below the hill.

Then it came into view. A rather dirty Jumper resting at the bottom, and didn't look like it was landed.

"Do you think he's still… in there?"

John didn't know how to respond to Aiden, he wanted Rodney to be there, to find him. But if he was, he would have been there for awhile, for most of the day. Unless it wasn't the first planet Garin had gated to… even at that though, that was one hell of a crash.

"I don't know." He had seen some pretty bad car crashes that had consisted of rolling down embankments, and they didn't bode too well for the people in them.

He landed the Jumper parallel to the crashed one in silence and led the team out. It was peculiar, when they seemed to have found him they couldn't find words to say, and during the day they couldn't seem to stop. Time seemed to crawl by.

They aimed flashlights at the Jumper and the drive pods, "Christ, it's upside down." John opened the hatch, and everyone stepped back so as not to be hit by it opening the opposite way than it should be. An all too familiar metallic smell radiated out of the back of the opening Jumper, signifying blood had been spilt inside. It was mixed with the smell of burnt wires.

The lights of their flashlights searched inside and rested on Rodney who was still propped up against the wall. John immediately ran to him and dropped on his knee. Aiden and Teyla looked on anxiously, while also eyeing the seriously messed up Jumper.

John shook him, "McKay, wake up…" He slapped his face a little, "Rodney…" He didn't move as John put two fingers to his neck, "I got a pulse! Let's move." With that, the time that seemed to have passed so slowly, had now sped up. John and Aiden picked up Rodney as gently as they could, and as quickly as they could moved him to their Jumper. As soon as they had laid him carefully down in the back, John ran to the pilot's seat and Teyla closed the hatch.

"He doesn't look good, sir." Ford was crouching next to Rodney, feeling his forehead as the Jumper took off, "He's cold and his breathing labored."

Teyla was also checking him over, "It appears he bandaged himself. A side wound, a leg wound, they haven't clotted very well, and his chest is severely bruised. We need to get him back, soon."

"Ford, get up here and as soon as we're in range, dial Atlantis and tell Beckett to have a med team waiting in the Bay."

"Yes, sir." Aiden sat down next to John and in a few moments started punching the symbols in. They could see the Gate activate and Ford contacted the Control Room. "Medical Emergency, need a team in the Bay. We have him."

Peter's voice came through, _"They'll be waiting."_

John flew the Jumper through the Gate hoping Beckett could work one of his miracles.

**TBC…**


	13. Inside a Mind of Two Scientists

**Chapter 13**_-Inside a Mind of two Scientists_

Rodney opened his eyes and saw whiteness above him. Thinking he was in the infirmary and the lights were bearing down on him he called out, "Carson, turn those damn lights off, they're hurting my eyes."

A quiet voice responded, "They are no lights. Only the vast expanse, you, and me."

He sat up and looked around, the voice was correct, only the empty whiteness surrounded him, he was back in his own mind. He looked behind him and saw Garin lying on his back, his eyes closed. Anger immediately swirled through his head and he jumped him, gripping his white linen shirt and shook him, punching his face with his right hand in between words.

"You…son…of…a…bitch!"

Garin threw Rodney off of him, stood up, and yelled, "Damn McKay, what are you doing!"

Rodney tackled the Ancient's legs, and pinned him to what can be called the ground. "What does it look like?" He started hitting Garin's head against the white ground, "You took over my life!"

Garin responded angrily by punching Rodney in the jaw and took the opportunity to force him on his back and within a moment his hands were wrapped around his neck.

Rodney struggled swinging his fists at Garin's sides, but the Ancient's eyes were flooded with wrath and didn't stop.

Then something changed as he stared into his eyes, Garin's face fell from rage to remorse and slowly relinquished his grip. Without a word, he stood and backed a few steps away, looking down at Rodney and at his own hands, and then turned his back.

Rodney got to his feet and rubbed his neck, "Why didn't you just finish the job! Nothing you haven't done before. What were their names…Davis and Lockhart?"

He turned around as he responded quietly, "Fighting among ourselves is pointless. For one, neither of us can be killed in this reality, and two, I never intended to become what I have."

Rodney immediately realized that he was not out of breath, nor did he hurt in any way, and that Garin showed no signs of being injured himself. He yelled out of exasperation, "This is not happening!"

"I am afraid that it is." Garin looked right at him, "The last thing I recall is the ship crashing, waking up here for a short amount of time and getting extremely tired as I was standing. Then I woke lying down and you were lying where you were. Nothing I attempt to control seems to work."

Rodney scratched his head, "Well, we're in my mind huh? And neither of us can control anything… I'm probably unconscious from the wounds."

"Wounds?" Garin looked a little confused.

Rodney's anger rose again, "Yes, I'm injured, probably dying in the back of the Jumper where no one knows where I am and it's your entire fault!"

Garin's also rose, but he kept it in check, "Do not put the entire blame on me." He pointed to himself, "I only wanted to make a visit to my house and pick up something."

"You took control of my body for four days, and did the same to Kate with your wife! This whole thing is your fault."

Garin folded his hands behind his back, "My wife's name is Elana and I am sure she is treating Kate extremely well since she found out what happened after I copied her."

"Oh, yes, that you're a murderer, a criminal, insane, and a lunatic. Did I mention murderer?"

"Do you think that is what I intended to do when I went to speak with the Council Members privately?"

The two men were standing about six feet apart yet in the empty white space, "What else am I supposed to think?"

"Those articles tell little detail. The situation… escalated and I reacted. I was not myself at the time, my emotions were… off."

Rodney snarked, "That makes me feel soo much better."

"I wanted my wife back and they would not let me continue with my work. All I had was my work and family. I could not just let Elana slip away. Would you not do everything in your power to save someone you cared for?"  
"I would, but not destroying others in the process!"

"It was unfortunate, but there is nothing to do about it now."

"Unfortunate? Two Ancients are dead, I'm dying, and Kate has Elana in her mind. I cannot understand what would posses you to do this! You can't go around doing these things. A Wraith took your wife from you, yes, but we have lost some damn good people to the Wraith too," His voice cracked remembering the super Wraith, Abrams and Gall, "so you believing you can do whatever you want is incredibly dense."

"You have no idea what I have been through at the hands of the Wraith so keep silent about it or I swear I WILL COME OVER THERE AND SILENCE YOU MYSELF!" Garin took a step towards him.

Rodney instinctively took a step back, "YOU TOLD ME! Your wife was killed by one!"

Garin took a moment and calmed, "Do you believe that is all they did? They took my life, McKay, not directly by feeding on me, but by feeding on the ones I loved! I could not let Elana go, she was the only thing that kept me going after …" Garin stopped talking.

"After _what_?"

"Nothing you need to know about."

"It's not like we're going anywhere! So you might as well tell me."

"Let it rest McKay. I am asking you politely."

"Politely? You took over my body!"

"I am aware of that fact."

Rodney's innate curiosity beat his anger, "Well, what else did they do?"

Garin looked straight into Rodney's eyes and slowly stated, "They took my son. A seven year old boy. Are you satisfied now?" He stepped away.

Rodney was stunned but still went on quietly, "It still doesn't give you the right to-"

"I know. I never meant for this to happen when I copied Elana. I truly had the best intentions." Garin was no longer looking at Rodney.

"Some of the worst crimes have been committed with the best of intentions."

"I am painfully aware of that. My work was supposed to keep the great minds of our society alive, and instead all it did was destroy. The ultimate goal was to regularly copy the minds of out leaders and take cellular samples in case they were killed in the war. That way, we could clone a new physical body and not loose them."

Rodney added to Garin's statement referencing the articles, "After the incident with you the others stopped the work because it was 'corrupting and degenerative.' Corrupting, obviously, degenerative… I assume they meant the eventual breakdown of DNA that has been cloned repeatedly."

"That is what I also assume. They were correct though, it posed too many problems." He sat loosely cross-legged on the ground.

Rodney was lost in thought and also sat down, his legs out in front of him bent to form a narrow triangle, wanting to lie back on something, but there wasn't anything at all. There really was no point in fighting more, it wouldn't get them anywhere. He began to piece the facts together.

_We're stuck in some white world of nothingness in my brain because of the crash, and I woke up in the Jumper the first time but Garin said he woke up here. The trauma must have pushed him out…then I passed out…so did he…and we both woke up here… but why wake up in here? No fun delirious dreams for me, I'm stuck with this psycho… What changed? What the hell is going on out there?_

He sighed and wondered what else he was supposed to talk about to the Ancient who invaded his mind, it was talk or sit in silence. They had covered quite a bit of material in the past twenty minutes.

---

Dr. Beckett was standing over the side an infirmary bed taking just a moment to look down at the pale Chief Scientist before notifying the others. He had tubes leading into his arms- one for fluids and one for blood, EEG sensors stuck to his head, a heart monitor attached to him, a blood pressure monitor, and oxygen, along with a bandaged chest, left arm in a cast, side injury stapled closed, and a calf muscle sown up. He was in still in a coma after a couple hours in surgery, but was stable in everything else, unlike when he first came in.

This had to be one of the more difficult parts of being a doctor, the waiting. After the fury of work when a patient first comes in and knowing all has been done that could be, all that was left was the checking of vitals and waiting. Waiting until something changed, hopefully for the better.

"Doctor?"

Carson spun behind him to see one of the nurses standing there, "Yes, Carolyn?"

"I've just double checked the blood supply, and the last pint of O positive is hanging there." pointed to Rodney's bloodline. "Captain Balsa and Dr. Wood have donated too recently, but there is someone on the night shift that is awake now, Dr-"

"No, there's no need for that. I have someone in mind. I'll go get her myself."

"Yes, doctor. I'll be waiting here for her." She looked down at her chart and jotted something down.

"No, there's no need, I'll take it."

Carolyn eyed Carson's face, he had heavy bags under his eyes, "This is my shift, you should get some rest since you've been working since eight this morning and it's," She looked at her watch, "Well, it is now three minutes into Saturday."

He chuckled a little, "I know you're right, I'll head to bed in a few minutes, right after I take care of this."

"Yes, doctor." Her slight smile hid her worry as she walked back to the desk the nurses had claimed as their station in the next room.

Carson took one more look at Rodney before heading out to the makeshift waiting room just beyond the main area of the infirmary. A small group consisting of John, Elizabeth, Aiden, Teyla, and Kate/Elana was assembled there. They were sitting on chairs dragged there one by one from the mess hall by people who had team members and friends in the infirmary over the past few months.

Elizabeth was the first to speak, "How is he?"

"He's stabilized, but he has not regained consciousness since he was brought in and he is in a comatose state. He has two broken rib bones, a fractured left ulna, a torn tendon in his lower right leg, a gash in his left side, and a concussion."

John's eyes widened along with the others throughout the explanation, "Is that all?"

"I have him on fluids, oxygen, and a blood drip. Oh, and Elizabeth, I was wondering if you would like to give a small donation as you're the same type as Rodney and I'm out, he might be needing more." Everyone there had felt like they gave something directly to the cause of helping Rodney- the team found him, Kate/Elana told them where to go, and Carson patched him up, and he just wanted to make Elizabeth have something tangible like that. Though they all knew she was the backbone of the expedition.

She folded her hands in her lap, "Of course."

"Is he going to be alright?" Teyla asked.

Carson avoided giving a definite answer, "We'll have to see if, when he wakes up."

Aiden asked the question that was on everyone's minds, "But he is going to wake up, right?"

Carson once again avoided a yes or no answer, "From the looks of it, he spent quite a few hours lying in the back of that Jumper and he lost a fair amount of blood and took a great amount of trauma. It is basically a waiting game."

Elizabeth began to stand, "When would it be safe to remove Garin?"

"I want to be sure that the procedure, even as short as it is, won't do unnecessary damage. The counteragent has been tested on the suppressant, but I want to run a few more tests before I go giving it to Rodney."

John was still sitting, "How soon will that be?"

"I'm aiming for the morning. Now, I must insist you all get some rest. Elizabeth, if you would come with me."

Kate closed her eyes and rubbed her temple, not having said anything during the past conversation. She was worn out, but trying not to show it. _"It has been a very long day, Kate."_

_-Yes it has.-_ "Carson?" She stood as Teyla and Ford said their goodnights.

He turned to her, "Aye?"

"Keep us informed, please."

He nodded and she left with Aiden and Teyla, leaving Carson, Elizabeth, and John in the room.

Carson and Elizabeth started walking into the infirmary, followed by John, but Carson noticed and gave him a 'where do you think you are going?' look, which John responded quickly to, "I'm going to see him."

"Alright, but not too long."

The three walked into the central room of the infirmary, one bed being occupied by Rodney, and the one next to it having a metal cart with supplies on it. Carson thought that Carolyn must have placed it there.

Carson motioned to the bed, "Have a seat please."

She sat down, looking over at Rodney, "He really does not look well, Carson."

"I know." He picked up a finger blood pressure monitor as John pulled up a chair in between the beds and sat down.

John motioned to the sensors on Rodney's head, "Are you detecting Garin this time on the EEG?"

"Aye. It's the strangest thing, the last time he went undetected." He directed his speech at Elizabeth, "Lie back, palm up."

She did just that and he slid the monitor on her finger. "Any idea why?"

"Garin's a smart fellow. I'm sure he could have found a way to evade me." He took off the monitor, "Your pressure is 110/66."

John kept looking at Rodney's face, he only looked like he was sleeping, "Why are you detecting him now?"

He picked up an ear thermometer from the cart and started taking her temperature, "I'm guessing it has to do with Rodney being comatose. Garin would be in the same situation. 98.3, now I just have to make sure you're not anemic." He set the thermometer down and picked up a small needle and thin tube.

"I wonder what is going on in that mind." She winced a little as Carson pricked her finger and then took some blood in the tube.

"I suppose we'll never know. Okay, I'll be right back, you stay here." He left the ranking military officer and expedition leader looking tired and weary over at the chief scientist.

Yawning himself, Carson tested Elizabeth's blood in a small machine that spun the tube. Everything looked good for the donation; her hematocrit count was 38, so he headed back into the room where the others were.

"Eliz-" Carson stopped as he noticed she was now sleeping, along with Major Sheppard who was on a chair in between the two beds. He didn't have the heart to wake them, if he did and they walked back to their quarters, they might not get to sleep, and they needed it. He picked up two blankets, spread one over Elizabeth, but thought John shouldn't be sleeping in a chair.

He turned to the Major and after a few mumblings in his sleep, managed to get him into a bed on the other side of Elizabeth. He spread the second blanket over John and then went to get Carolyn.

She looked up from her station in a different room, "Doctor, what can I do for you?"

"Page the other Doctor for a donation. My contact fell through."

"Right away."

"Thank you, lass. I'll be in my office." He went to get some sleep himself; his staff had thoughtfully put an infirmary bed in his office. He trusted the night staff, but he still wanted to be near in case anything with his patient, the only patient at the time, changed.

Xxx xxx

Rodney looked over where Garin was sitting down, they had been sitting in silence for an uncalculated amount of time, if time even existed like it was on the outside. He remembered there was still one topic to fully discuss. "You know you cannot stay, right?"

"I am not going to leave, so do not waste your breath."

"After all this talk about knowing what happened to your family doesn't give you the right to do this, you still refuse to leave? This is unbelievable!" He stood up.

He also stood, "I would prefer to be alive, and what is done, is done."

"The others know about you now, you're not going to be allowed to stay!"

"Well, they wouldn't know where I dialed the Gate to, so this conversation is irrelevant."

Rodney's anger escalated, "Oh, yes, how could I forget. I'm dying!" He shoved Garin, who stumbled back a step.

Garin shoved back, "Because you wouldn't let me fly the damn ship!"

"Well, it is _my_ body!" Rodney pushed Garin's shoulders, but he didn't move and instead they got into a wrestling match, Garin forcing Rodney to the ground, only to get swept himself. It would have been comical to see, Garin at one point getting Rodney into a head lock, only to be elbowed in the face.

When they finally separated and stood up, and Garin spoke, "This is ridiculous! Let us just stay away from each other."

Rodney nodded and they started backing away, watching one another, the space in between increasing until it was about fifty feet. He looked around at the bare and empty white world he was stuck in, sat down, and grunted. This really sucked, as far as he knew, his body was still in the back of the Jumper, dying, and he was here in this place. He scratched his head and figured his body was not strong enough to create any other place for them, two minds fighting in one brain was evidently taking its toll.

**TBC…**


	14. Fallout

**Chapter 14**_-Fallout_

Elizabeth walked back into the infirmary after washing up and changing her clothes. She had been surprised when she woke up there in a bed in between ones occupied by Rodney and John. Carson was going to be administering the counteragent and she wanted to be there.

She saw him in his white lab coat, standing over one of the work stations, holding a needle in a beaker. "Dr. Beckett?"

He turned his head, "Oh, you are just in time." He pulled the needle out of the beaker.

She noticed his underlying solemn demeanor, "I assume all the tests on the agent came out well."

"Aye. By all signs, it should be successful at flushing the suppressant out of his system."

"Let's do this then." He nodded and they walked over to where Rodney was still lying in a bed attached to numerous instruments. Carson headed straight to the IV and injected the contents of the syringe into it.

"That's all. Now we wait." He sighed and checked the monitors, looking for any changes.

Elizabeth looked down at Rodney, his eyelashes pressed firmly onto his cheeks, "How is he?"

"The same. I do not want to transport him down to 13B, so Radek and Peter want to bring the computer up here, extract Garin as soon as possible."

"That will be fine. I understand that will be in two hours."

"Correct."

"I want to sit with him awhile."

Carson nodded and left the room after taking one last check over Rodney's stats. Elizabeth grasped his hand and started talking quietly, "We're going to get you out of this, but you have to hang on."

She pulled the chair John had fallen asleep in the night before next to the bed and sat down, still grasping his left hand being careful not to move his broken arm. "I can't even begin to fathom what you've been through these past few days."

She continued to talk for a few minutes about mundane things that were happening in the city, just to keep a sound of a friendly voice in his ears. She stood and ran her fingers through his hair, "I'll be back in a little while. Work never stops in this city."

Elizabeth practically ran into John on her way out, "Major."

"Dr. Weir. How's he doing?"

"The same. Carson gave him the counteragent and they are planning on trudging Garin's computer up here."

"Then they can get him out of Rodney's head."

"Yes. The sooner the better."

"Can't argue with that." They parted and John headed straight over to Rodney. He looked down at his chest slowly rising and falling, thinking he hasn't been this quiet for this long since he was hit by that Wraith stunner.

"So…" He rocked on his heels and finally sat down, "You know you need to wake up here pretty soon because Zelenka's been telling me that Kavanagh has been running amuck in the Submarine Bay. Oh yea, we have subs, how cool is that? Bet you can't wait to get back on your feet so we can go exploring the deep, dark, depths of the ocean. On second thought, that will just make you want to stay in a coma, wouldn't it?"

John eyed Rodney's injuries, "You know there's that Weapons Research Complex waiting for you, though the Ancients didn't leave much in there." He sighed, knowing he was avoiding what he was really thinking about.

"I'm sorry. I should have known earlier about this whole situation. Well, I had a feeling, but still." John could have sworn Rodney's eye twitched, so he continued, "Really, I am sorry. Maybe if I would have done something more direct earlier you wouldn't be lying there." There was no further movement and John let out a breath determined not to move until Rodney woke up to berate him about his apology.

Xxx xxx

Radek and Peter were carefully wheeling the rather large console out of the transporter on a cart and through the hall to the infirmary, trying desperately not to hit anyone on their way, instead hitting the side of the infirmary doorway with an echoing thud.

Their eyes met and they quickly wheeled it through the door, hoping no one heard that. They immediately noticed a four-person group hovering over the infirmary bed, technically five-person- Carson, Major Sheppard, Dr. Weir, and Kate/Elana.

Elizabeth noticed them immediately, "Are you ready?"

"Give us a moment." Peter responded as the two of them wheeled the console over to Rodney's right side.

"That is going to work, right?"

"Yes, Major." Radek typed in the instructions to remove Garin's tagged consciousness. "Okay, all set."

The group watched as Peter gently picked up Rodney's hand and placed it on the panel.

---

Rodney buried his face in his hands, still in the white world, his mind racing with thoughts of his life, his successes, and the failures. Funny how when contemplating your own demise you think about the scope of your life, what sort of mark you left on the world, or in Rodney's case, two galaxies.

When he looked up he didn't see anything, not even Garin. "What the hell?" He whipped his head around and stood, looking behind him into the whiteness as it changed and he found himself standing in the middle of his old kitchen. His parent's kitchen to be precise.

His mom was standing over the stove, spatula in her hand, and turned around, "Roddy, have a seat and breakfast will be up shortly." She smiled and turned back. "It's the big day today, excited?"

Rodney looked down at the table, thinking this must be one of those delusions people had when they were dying, but he wasn't going to let a chance for some real food slip past him, even if it was imaginary. He sat down at his place, "Yea, I suppose it is."

She brought a pan over and slid a thick piece of maple ham on his plate, "You've been in your room working on your project for weeks." She switched pans and set some eggs on it too.

Then it hit him, this was the morning of the six grade science fair he built the working model of the atomic bomb for, and that meant the CIA would be knocking at the door, and boy would his dad be pissed. "Well, it would work if I had a fistful of 235 along with-"

He was cut off by his sister strolling in and rubbing his head, "Hey little bro, mom."

He shrugged her off, "Jeannie! Don't do that!" He was a grown man now after all.

She sat down, "Oh whatever." She jabbed him in his side.

He settled back into his twelve-year old self, though he would still act like this now, "Mom! Did you just see that? She's starting a fight again!"

"What's all the damned racket in here?"

Rodney gulped as he stared at his father at the doorway, not looking particularly pleased. His mother tried to ease the situation as she poured Jeannie orange juice and Rodney apple juice, "Nothing at all. Today is the big science fair."

"What science fair?" He poured a cup of coffee.

"The one your son built the model of the bomb for."

"He built a _bomb_?" He grabbed him by the shirt, "Rodney McKay, are you insane? Do you know how much trouble you could get us into!"

His mother placed her hand on his dad's arm, "It doesn't actually work, as I said, it is a _model_."

His dad scoffed and left, leaving Rodney wondering why the hell his mind brought him here, he mumbled under his breath as he started to cut the ham slice, "A working model."

The scene changed and he looked down at a different table, the food gone. He was in a small room, lit by a central light bulb. A man in a black suit was sitting across the table and there was a two-way mirror on his left.

"This information we have concerning you and a few others your age is too strong to be ignored-"

Rodney immediately knew where he was and defended himself, "You cannot be serious, there is no secret organization. I built the model for my science fair, I just wanted to win first place!"

The American fed didn't believe one word the twelve-year old Rodney said. "So you say, but it is built a little too well, son."

---

Radek looked at the screen and mumbled, "Oops."

Kate looked at Carson who looked back at her.

John's eyes widened, "I don't like the sound of that."

Elizabeth crossed her arms, "I don't either. Dr. Zelenka, Grodin?"

"Garin has been downloaded back in the computer, we can tell by the code on this consciousness." Peter pointed to the screen.

Radek pointed to another spot on the screen, "But the program is prompting us for a name for this consciousness."

John scratched his head, "Don't tell me."

"We seem to have copied Rodney. It's not a problem, we'll just delete both and-"

John cut Peter off, "Wait a minute, that's McKay in there technically, right?"

Carson nodded, "Aye, a copy up to this point."

"Let's just keep that copy." John shrugged, "Just in case something went wrong."

"Okay, we'll just delete Garin here then-"

John cut Peter off again, "Are you sure that's the right one?"

Radek immediately replied a little annoyed, "Yes, Major. Now, can we do our jobs?"

He was about to give a not so pleasant reply when Elizabeth lightly touched his arm and stopped him, she then asked Carson, "Any change?"

Carson squeezed behind the console where Radek and Peter were standing to get to the monitoring equipment, "The stats seem to have strengthened a bit, and the sensors are only picking up one set of brainwaves."

Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief, "Progress, small, but progress nonetheless."

"All in all, it does seem to be doing better. But, it is still a waiting game."

Xxx

It was decided that the senior staff needed to have an actual meeting with Dr. Elana Trelio, one that was focused not on locating Rodney, but what the aftermath of this event would be. Elizabeth sat in her usual seat at the U-shaped table with John, Carson, and Kate/Elana around her.

Elana began before anyone else could, "I deeply regret that your people have been put through this ordeal, that Dr. McKay has been… tortured in this way. I know that Kate has invited me to stay, but I do not feel it is my place and wish to leave as soon as I can."

The three were a little stunned that Elana had come right out and said this and Elizabeth responded, "We will do our best to honor your wishes, but you are one of the Ancients. We came here in hopes of finding you and your people."

Elana breathed deeply, "I cannot stay any longer, you have to understand that I do not belong here, my time has passed. Perhaps if the situation were different, but if I stay, it means Kate has to share her body with me and that is something that I will not do for the duration of her life. And we don't even know what it could do to her physically, the stress of it."

'_Don't be stubborn, listen to Dr. Weir! I'm sure it would be fine.'_

John looked at Carson, "Could this really have a negative effect on her?"

"I cannot give a definite answer, Major. It doesn't seem to have affected her to this point. I credit it to the absence of an internal struggle. As long as their relationship stays amiable, it should be fine. However, I would keep monitoring them."

Elizabeth was happy to hear that and continued with Elana, "Why don't you give it some more thought, nothing has to be decided as of this moment."

She nodded and Kate took over, "You have to pardon Elana, she can be a bit obstinate at times."

_-Hey! You don't hear me discussing your idiosyncrasies.-_

'_Yes, but it was necessary.' Kate cracked a smile in her voice, if that's possible._

_Elana laughed, -You're lucky I like you.-_

John had moved on to discussing Rodney, "Do we know what he has been through the past few days?"

Kate sighed, "Well, we know that Garin kept him conscious throughout all of it, in a world he had created, and he didn't have to. Elana had me in a blackout for the first day, before she discovered what Garin had done, that's when we went to Carson."

The Scot questioned further, "Are you saying he's been able to see us, but couldn't do anything about it?"

Kate nodded, "He will need time recover. I expect his trust in us has been broken."

A wave of guilt passed over the group; they knew they wouldn't be able to fathom the rollercoaster of emotions Rodney had been through.

Xxx xxx

Sgt. Markham flew a Jumper out of the Gate and onto P8X-468, leading a small group, consisting of Smith, another marine, and a young scientist, that was sent to salvage the crashed Jumper. It was highly unlikely it would fly again, but it would serve for spare parts at least. Elana had insisted she come along, wanting to investigate a feeling she had about her old vacation home.

He landed the Jumper where Major Sheppard had landed the previous night, and the group exited the ship. Elana immediately began to climb the hill, focused on where she was going, Markham right on her heels. He called out an order back to his team, and turned his attention back to the woman ahead of him - the two women, well the one, it hurt his head thinking about it so he gave up.

"Doctor, after all these years I doubt there's anything left in there, unless it was buried like those crystals."

They reached the top, "Maybe so, but Garin most likely thought there was something else, and I think I know what it is."

Markham followed her through the ruined rooms, "Care to let me in on the secret?"

"Not especially. It's more of a family item." She walked over to the corner of the room in the back of the house and crouched down to a tile. She smiled at the soldier, "Care to let me borrow your knife?"

He pulled it out of its holster, "I assume you want that tile lifted."

She nodded, and he pried it up, revealing a shallow hole in the floor. Elana immediately pulled out an item, silver in color, about five inches by six inches, and with a viewing screen on the back.

"What is it?"

"Kate calls it a camera, or a photo album. We left it here because we thought that some day we would return to this place, after the war. Turns out, we were correct in a way." She stood up and sauntered down the hill, Markham quickly came up right beside her. He wouldn't let anything happen to an Ancient on his watch.

On the way back, Kate and Elana were talking amongst themselves, as they were looking through the photographs of family events- binding ceremonies, birthdays, the few parties on Atlantis (Ancients did have fun once in awhile), overall the happy times one could still have in war.

'_Have you decided yet?'_

_-You mean if I have changed my mind.-_

'_If you want to put it that way. It's not as if it would have to be permanent.'_

_-I suppose.-_

'_A few days, a week, or a few weeks.'_

_-Fine, I'll hang around for awhile.-_

'_Really? Well that was easy; you didn't even put up an argument.'_

_-To be honest, I am beginning to like it here, and you and the others made a fairly strong argument yourselves. I would like to help with what I can, though technology is not a strong suit of mine.-_

Kate smiled as the Jumper flew threw the Gate, loaded with spare parts the team had taken.

The rest of the day passed strangely for central figures of Atlantis, just the previous day it was revealed that an Ancient was in control of Rodney McKay, and now he was lying in a coma after being chased around previously unexplored parts of the city and a nasty crash in a Jumper.

The infirmary had become a permanent stop on everyone's rounds, the door revolving so to speak, it actually slid open and closed repeatedly. One hour John would be there, the next Teyla, or Elizabeth, Aiden also made a stop, as did Kate/Elana who were there as much as John and Elizabeth.

Radek and Peter wheeled Garin's console down to the main lab for study, being extremely careful to let everyone know not to touch the panel, at all, or risk having a copy of Dr. McKay in their heads. Everyone stayed clear of it after they heard that comment. Peter and Radek also made their own visits to the chief scientist, talking about the discoveries being made about the submarines, how they were designed, and what systems they had. Work never stopped, even if one of the senior staff was laid up.

Xxx xxx xxx

He became suddenly aware that he was lying in a bed, he could feel the blanket over him, up to the center of his chest, and the pillows piled under his head and back, elevating him. He could feel a loose pair of scrub pants, the right side cut short. There were murmurings in the background and he struggled to listen, but they were too far away. Light shined through his closed eyelids.

He felt like he had fallen off a cliff and slammed against the rocks below, let alone tossed around a Jumper. With his first waking breath, he could feel that he had an oxygen tube in his nose and curling around his ear. He hated those things, always so annoying, and he thought about removing it, but didn't want to move.

There was the scuffling of feet and he heard someone sit in a chair on his right side. He could tell by the footsteps it was a certain Major and the voice confirmed it, "Come on Rodney, wake up. Admit it, you're just sleeping now. If you want some time off this badly I'm sure Dr. Weir would gladly give you-"

He stopped at the sight of Rodney's hand moving and him mumbling, "'Mup."

John stood and called over to the other side of the infirmary, "Doc! Get over here, he's awake!" He turned back to McKay, "Hey, you going to stay with us this time or flutter your eyelids and go back to sleep again?"

Rodney scrunched his face and slowly opened his eyes to the blurry sight of the infirmary ceiling, "Debating it. Bright."

"Oh yea, right." The lights dimmed as John instructed.

"Thanks." His eyes quickly adjusted to the room and he peered down at his bandaged body, he was noticeably shirtless as his chest was wrapped, and the IV in his hand.

"Don't mention it."

Carson appeared at his left side and began immediately with the pen light check of the pupils doctors always seem to do, "How you feeling lad?"

Rodney glared at him wondering if that question was really necessary, "Crap." He smacked his lips and added, "Mouth feels like there's a sweater in it."

"I'll get you some ice chips in a moment. You've been here in a coma for two days, and you've been pretty much sleeping for another three. It's Wednesday evening."

Rodney snipped, in a cranky mood due to the soreness throughout his body, "Fantastic."

Carson promptly headed to the other side of the infirmary for the ice, and Rodney continued quietly to the Major, "How'd I get here?"

"Kate and Elana suggested we go to M8X-468 and we found you in that crashed Jumper. Weren't wearing your seat belt huh?" John cracked a grin.

"Garin wasn't exactly-" He squinted remembering the Ancient, "Where -?"

"He's gone. Zelenka and Grodin got him out and then deleted him in the computer."

Rodney brought his good arm to his face and rubbed, "Good, good, took you all long enough though. Seriously, was he that good of an actor?"

John smiled sheepishly, "He was actually over doing it a little."

Carson returned with a cup that Rodney gratefully took and greedily started chewing on the pieces of ice, taking a bit of pleasure in how they cracked in his teeth. He finally took a good look at John, seeing his eye and teasing him, "How's that black eye doing, Major?"

John reacted by touching it, "Fine, almost healed now."

Carson asked, "What's the last event you remember?"

Rodney thought a moment, and avoided what happened during the coma, not so sure what really happened and what did not, "Waking up in the Jumper."

John asked, "So, you did those bandages?"

Rodney nodded and Carson added, "Believe it or not, that little you did most likely stopped enough of the bleeding that you survived to be found." He took the blanket off of Rodney's leg so he could change the bandage, "Do you want the bad news or the worse news first lad?"

Rodney practically growled, "Just tell me." He was trying to keep his words to a minimum, talking wasn't the easiest thing to do when one first wakes up from a coma.

"Alright. I had to repair a torn tendon here in your leg." He took the old bandage off, revealing a severely bruised calf and stitches. "So you'll have to have some aid in walking for awhile." He began wrapping it with fresh, new linen.

Rodney lifted his left arm and Carson responded, "Fractured ulna." He pointed to his chest, "Two broken ribs." He pointed to his side, "Gash that needed stapling."

Rodney's expression fell with each response and John prodded Carson, "Tell him the good news."

Carson looked at the Major confusedly, "Good news?" John nodded and Carson realized, "Oh, right. Dr. Elana Trelio is quite a sweet woman actually; she and Kate have become friends these past few days. She's agreed to stay for awhile, help us out."

"We might not have found you if it wasn't for her."

Rodney snarked, "Oh is that right?" He refused to believe it; his own experience with Garin had soured him.

John tried to turn him to their opinions, "She told us about a Submarine Bay."

Rodney cracked another piece of ice, "What Sub Bay?"

John repeated, "The one Elana told us about."

Rodney wriggled into a more comfortable position, but also aggravated his side wound and his ribs, he hissed, "Oh, that hurts, oh god does that hurt!"

Carson immediately held him in place, "Don't move too much."

"You don't have to tell me that twice!" He squinted his eyes shut.

John asked Carson quietly, "Can't you give him something?"

But of course Rodney heard, "Yes! Please!"

"Aye, I'll be right back. But after that, you're getting some rest lad." Carson started walking away.

Rodney called after him, "I've been in a coma, how much more rest do I need!" Carson didn't answer as he stepped into another room, and Rodney started coughing, yelling had strained his throat.

"So… have you really been watching us for the past few days, when Garin was… here?"

"Masquerading as me?" He coughed again and brought the cup to his mouth, drinking the little water the ice had melted into, "Yes."

John noticed the glare on Rodney's face, it wasn't hard to miss. "That must have been-"

"Horrible? Terrifying? Frightening? Dreadful? Horrendous? Yes, it was."

The Major paused a moment before speaking again, "I'm sorry. I should have stopped it before it got to this point."

"I watched someone live my life for four days, talk with the people I know, he completely tore apart my mind, and he fucking _enjoyed_ it! And to top it off, no one noticed until it was too late to stop him from doing the same to Kate and escaping Atlantis!" He started coughing more violently, an itch crept at the back of his throat. The coughing continued to send pain throughout his torso, irritating the broken ribs and tugging at the staples in his side.

John helped him with the ice cup, "Well, we sort of noticed…"

"What do you mean?"

"I had Zelenka and Grodin working down in 13B since the day Beckett and Heightmeyer released you, Garin, back to work."

"You did?"

"Teyla and Ford noticed something was up, the way Garin was sparring. Zelenka and Grodin saw a change in the lab, he was acting extremely arrogant, more than you would. And Dr. Weir suspected when she ran into Garin after breakfast, when he had that fight with Elana, the day all this happened."

That made Rodney forgive them a little, at least they hadn't been completely oblivious of the situation, "And he _still_ got out of the city?"

John shrugged, "He was an Ancient."

Carson chose this moment to show up, syringe in hand, "This should make you feel better." He pushed the meds into Rodney's IV.

"That's the good stuff, right?"

"Yes, Rodney."

"Because, genius in pain here."

"Yes, Rodney. Now, you should be falling asleep fairly soon."

"You didn't!" Rodney was taken aback.

"I did. Doctor's orders." Carson kept his medical-poker face on.

John was keeping a grin back himself, "You're clever doc, snuck a sedative into that syringe too, didn't you? That's what took you so long."

"Aye. I need him to bloody sleep."

"I'm still awake here!"

Carson couldn't keep a straight face any longer and the corners of his lips rose into a sly grin, "Not for long lad."

Rodney held a finger out, "One of these days Carson, you are going to pay for this."

"I have three words for you, _Complete Medical Examination_."

"You wouldn't!" Rodney could feel himself feeling a woozy.

"But I would. I will be here when you wake up in a few hours."

John waved, "Pleasant dreams Rodney."

Rodney mumbled something incoherent and drifted to sleep.

Carson and John looked at each other and the Scot asked, "Are we going to tell him there's still a copy of his consciousness in that contraption?"

"We'll tell him the next time he wakes up, then Zelenka will delete it, and this whole thing will be done with."

Carson had finally let himself sigh with relief that Rodney had broken from the coma, and he keyed his radio, "Elizabeth?"

Xxx

The next time Rodney McKay woke up, he found himself with an audience. Elizabeth was sitting on a bed, as were John, Radek, and Peter. He looked around and yawned loudly, unknowingly grabbing their attention.

Elizabeth walked over and squeezed his hand quickly, "Rodney, glad to see you back."

"Yes, well, so am I. I would be happier if this body wasn't torn to pieces."

He saw Radek and Peter and immediately started asking questions about the panel and the computer Garin designed, "Hey, so you two figured how Garin did this?"

The three scientists started getting into an extremely in depth and detailed discussion about how the panel actually worked, leaving John and Elizabeth getting a few words in here and there and looking at each other and pretending they knew exactly what was going on. They knew what the computer did and everything, just this amount was not necessary for them.

Then Peter got to one part, "We did have a slight problem when we extracted Garin."

Radek quickly added, "Very slight, hardly worth mentioning."

"Yet you mentioned it, spill."

"We copied you." Peter prepared himself for what was coming.

"You WHAT? As if this all wasn't enough," He rubbed his face.

"It is quite easy to delete, nothing to fret over."

"Okay, Radek, but I want that deleted, my head's been messed with enough this past week."

Elizabeth jumped back into the conversation, "Dr. Heightmeyer will be coming down. I know you should talk."

John added, "Her and Elana."

Rodney took a slow breath as to not aggravate his chest, "Great…" He didn't know how he felt about it, apparently Elana Trelio was still a nice Ancient, nothing like what her husband had turned into, but it was still all very odd. He had tried so hard to stop Garin, and failed, only to find out it didn't really matter, Elana was staying and Kate was letting her. He sighed as his little audience started filling out.

True to Elizabeth's word, Kate Heightmeyer walked in a moment after the group had left and walked right over to him. "Hi Rodney." Kate was the only person who could even come close to understanding what Rodney had been through the past week, and she still couldn't imagine what it had done to him. She knew she was lucky that Elana was humane.

"Hi…"

"Elana is in here too, but I'll be doing the talking."

"Then talk." He actually wasn't trying to be rude, he was just incredibly uncomfortable, and fully aware he couldn't just run away. He couldn't even limp away.

"Well, I was wondering if there was any time that you couldn't see what was happening, what Garin was doing."

"There was one night." He didn't want to think about it.

Kate calmly asked, "The night after Garin had downloaded Elana into me?"

"Yea."

"Would you like to know what happened, between them? Elana has shared all memories beginning with the time of the attack on Anfalas, up to the time we first talked." Rodney just stared at her blankly, not really wanting to answer, so Kate went on, "They slept together."

Rodney covered his face, not wanting her to see his reaction, which was a mix of disgrace, embarrassment, and fear; and hatred and disgust for Garin. If he wasn't gone already, he would give that man a clobbering. He imagined what he would do, it consisted of a lot of punches to the face, stomach, private regions… and then put him on a deserted planet in a locked room with an overloading naquadah generator, and the mother dragon from M3R-436 in case he managed to stabilize the generator… and find the father dragon and throw him in there too.

She saw his reaction and slightly smiled, "The key word being _slept_."

He looked up at her, "What?"

"They only slept that night. Elana was not comfortable going any further than kissing."

He sighed with relief, "Oh thank god!... I mean, its not that you're not, or that… if they did that would mean that technically we, and then -"

She cut off his semi-coherent rant, "I know exactly how you feel."

"You do?"

"It was a relief when Elana showed me that nothing happened. Though there was some cuddling involved." It was very odd for her having memories that were not her own, of spending the night in his quarters. She shook them off.

Rodney couldn't help but imagine that night, but he scolded himself, "So, that's one issue out of the way."

"Yes. I wanted to apologize; I should have known it was Garin who came to the sessions."

Rodney thought this must be 'Say sorry to McKay day' or something, "Well, yea. I was yelling at you to notice."

"You were?"

He nodded, "Then and when Garin had brought you down to the lab."

"I didn't realize it was him until it was already too late. But, I suppose nothing permanent was done to me."

Rodney pointed to her head, "What about her?"

"Elana? Oh, I had to convince her to stay awhile. She was extremely hesitant at first."

He pouted, "You got the good Ancient. That is not fair."

"I'm sure you wouldn't want to share your body with someone else."

"True. But why do you?"

"We're making it an equal relationship, share knowledge, dreams; it's like having your best friend with you all the time."

Rodney scoffed, "No thanks. I like my solitary moments."

Kate knew when to drop things, and Rodney looked very tired so she thought it best to leave it be for now, "If you ever need to talk about anything else, you know where to find me."

"Yep, see you later." He waved goodbye as she left and laid his head back on the pillow, completely and utterly relaxed, now that events of that week had been cleared up.

Xxx xxx xxx

Rodney was eager to get out of the infirmary a week later, he hadn't spent that much time there personally, and it annoyed him more than anything ever had. The almost persistent boredom due to the face that Carson wouldn't let him work on his laptop, and the looking around the room so much he memorized it.

Ask him how many tiles there were on the ceiling he would spit out '273,' how many of those lighted columns, '12,' how many light slits on each column, '32.' Let's not forget how many time the nurses and doctors walked through every day, on average, '210.'

He wondered what they were doing, walking back and forth like that, it wasn't as if there were that many patients besides him. The odd marine would come in, complaining of a strained wrist from training too much with Teyla and Major Sheppard. Then there was his staff that would stop in with burns and cuts and worried because they were shocked by some device.

They tried to avoid him so as not to get screeched at for doing something wrong, but it never worked. He would ask what happened, they would explain quickly, and he would then send them to Carson. Of course, he had the usual stream of visitors- John, Elizabeth… but people couldn't be there constantly, there was a city to run.

Carson had helped him into a wheelchair as he couldn't walk on his leg very well yet and wheeled him to his room, where he was now, looking out the view from his window. He also had a set of crutches over in the corner.

There was a chime at his door, and Rodney called out, "Who is it?"

"Me."

"I need a little more than that!"

"I have food, real food that the Doc wouldn't let you have."

He smiled, it was the Major, he thought the door open to let him in, "What sort of food?"

John walked in, holding two trays that were laden with everything the mess hall had put out that afternoon, "Well, pretty much the whole lot of it. Nothing citrus." John dragged Rodney's table over to where he was sitting, still in a wheelchair, but in normal clothes- a blue short sleeved shirt and the khaki pants. He set the trays down.

Rodney eyed the tray, John certainly didn't skimp, "You can't possibly believe I'm going to eat all of this."

"Well, what you don't eat, I will." He was busily diving into his own lunch.

"Where do you put it all? Damn, you're skinnier than a toothpick."

"I'm not that skinny, I have a high metabolism."

He had a mouthful of food, "Common excuse."

There had been something bugging John about the whole 'Rodney watching Garin live his life' thing, "So, where exactly were you in your mind for those days? Maui? Canada? Hockey Game? Back at the SGC?"

Rodney explained, "I had four days of a perfect model our Gateroom, but he added couches." He picked up his glass and took a sip.

John narrowed his eyes, "Couches? In the Gateroom? What color?"

Rodney set his glass down, "Orange. Can you believe that? They were Orange!"

**FIN

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**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed! Check out the sequel _Return of the Orange Couches_, thanks!**  
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